Finally Friday

What a grand week it was! 

During an impromptu weekly summary meeting The Other Half called, we recounted the key events, took cognisance of areas to troubleshoot and proposed resolutions for trying out next week. We will keep workable methods and discard distractions.

We hope to be more efficient and effective as a family, targeting to cut down time wasted on the road, have more home cooked meals and generally aim to settle the kids down to our new school-centric routine. 

Were there minutes, you'd ask. 

Yes. 

The Other Half has timeline, financial projections, key action points etc. scary, right?

Honestly, this discipline works and he loves cracking his whip. I feel the pressure, mais bien sur, the greater good has to prevail. He runs a tight ship, and I must acknowledge that the new routine stresses him out. 

I feel like I have a Boss at home. A very KPI-driven Boss *pengsan*

Now, let's enjoy the weekend and relax before Monday comes to bite me on my behind!

Terrifying Thursday

It is the prolonged monsoon and my dryer broke down last week. All I can conclude is we need a dryer as there is no place at all to hang our laundry out to dry.

LaundryMonster is so gigantic I have chosen to turn a blind eye. As long as we have some matching clean clothes for everyone on a daily basis, I tell myself, "Good job, don't stress." It is an accomplishment for an OCD person who likes empty laundry baskets with no pending items to iron.

Instead of buying a replacement model right away, The Other Half and I decided to call Electrolux service centre. That was Monday. Someone at after sales service call centre mentioned someone else (a field electrician) will call us on Thursday but no call came in today. 

Which left The Other Half and I high and dry. Pun intended.

Which got The Other Half thinking about Electrolux as a whole. He is not in favour of a new Electrolux dryer now because if we were to encounter any problems with the new unit, in future, we would be calling the same number with no response. 

Which led us to Bosch in Publika. We sat in a 2 hour crawl just to get out of the city from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm. After a crappy dinner at a reliable food franchise, we marched to Bosch. Dismay followed when we discovered that the discounts they offered us had lapsed last Sunday. The unit we short-listed, a 7kg condenser dryer, now retails at RM3600 instead of RM3000. The RRP is RM4xxx! That is the price before warranty, before delivery quote and disposal comes with separate charges. 

The same Bosch 7kg condenser dryer is selling at RM2999 from our regular electrical shop known as TBM at Bangsar Village, comes with 5 year warranty, free delivery and free disposal of old dryer. 

You would say it is a no brainer after the above comparison, right?

In my view, as the end user, the product warranty should be 5 years, and my Electrolux did last me during the period. It served me well. My only grouse is with the after sales service, or the lack thereof.

I guess, the Electrolux will not get my consumer dollar this time. Wish me luck for smooth sailing purchase, delivery of my new Bosch because if the new unit gives me problems, The Other Half is going to put on a smug face and let me call for after sales service help (and hopefully help will come).

*jitters*

I don't like his smug face and I don't have much time to sit around to call the service centre and listen to the pre-recorded sales pitch. Oh, please let the new Bosch find a happy home in my laundry room for many years. Amin!

Wordy Wednesday

Last night, Bean woke up at midnight and refused to sleep until nearly my waking up time. He still carries the fever since vaccination on Monday. The final results? The Other Half and I were dadbie and mombie, respectively, today. We slept for about 2 hours each?

Despite my "hang over"/sheer exhaustion, I drove The Little Girl to Big School. As we were running late, I took the tolled road option via MEX. Every minute that we had saved, we spent by sitting in the jam on the access road leading up to school car park. Win some, lose some.

As usual, my 4 years 9 month young lady absolutely cannot keep her mouth zipped for long during car rides. 

Credit to the new routes unfamiliar us, she observed and commented on a few things today. Here are highlights that still make me feel all fuzzy inside after a long day:

1. "Mummy, the sun wakes up on East in the morning and then it moves up, up, up, then down, down, down, to sleep in the West." (She then tried looking for North and South base on finding East on her left hand side, followed by East on her right hand side). We will figure out Qiblat and solat times someday, in sha Allah.

2. "Mummy, I saw a lot of boxes on the hill." (We were driving past a cemetery). She then asked about her late uncle, T2's late grandma and where I will be when I die. Morbid, but at least she is pondering and using her brains!

3. "Mummy, I saw two red doll houses with some people inside." (We were driving past two red huts hosting idols within, Datuk Kong?) I launched into a small caution speech about never touching anything on the roadside, never playing with any such objects and not to disobey me on this one. She asked about a million "why" so in the end I had to veer off the topic when it got too heavy for me. I was not prepared to explain monotheism, Islam, etc. at her level of comprehension so I told her I will research first and she agreed to ask again next time. For now, she knows those are NOT doll houses. Phew!

I wonder what heavy topics she will think of tomorrow *gleeful anticipation*

Heavy topics, kalah morning radio crew who were on air today! Speaking of radio, I listened to 92.9FM for the first time today after a long interval. They had a short segment called "I-cannot-take-it-anymore Day" and the Andrew-Sara tea-coffee comment made me laugh. It is too long a story to repeat here though. The point is, it has been too long ago since I last laughed out loud listening to radio on my own in the traffic jam. 

That, my lovelies, me-time was the best cure for my hang over. Alhamdulillah!

Terrific Tuesday

The Other Half dropped The Little Girl off at Big School this morning.

I spent an exclusive 1-1 quality time in the morning with Bean, alhamdulillah! Priceless, as Bean is as adorably cute as a button at the present moment (he is my son, of course I would sing praises of him). 

Later in the morning, we went out to run some errands. The highlight of "errands" was Bean's haircut. He cried the entire place down, no change from his previous haircut. Let's hope it gets better from now onwards.

Now let's return to the point of this post now that I have deposed of preliminaries.

On our way back to fetch The Little Girl from Big School, I realised that The Other Half has not figured out the location of Big School in totality. He is familiar with only one route and that route alone. 

That meant spending more time on the road going home to start the journey to Big School (his solution) versus going to Big School from wherever we were at (my solution).

He was the driver, but he reluctantly agreed to my solution. Due to a MRT construction road diversion, we got "lost" as in we had to take a road less familiar. The amount of time spent ended up being the same as if we had taken the familiar route. Luckily, we made it to pick up time on the dot.

Which brought me to question myself if I have got the location and route all figured out. Regardless of where I am going to start the journey from, I can find the Big School?

The reason why I dwelled on this simple point is quite plain. In case of emergency, regardless of where I am, regardless of whether I have my Garmin/GPS/Waze etc, can I find my way to The Little Girl in the shortest time possible?

On a spiritual level, no matter how lost I get, can I find my way back to Allah swt on time?

Since The Other Half knows how to with absolute certainty, even if it is just one single route, maybe it is a pure blessing of The Straight Path?

When I came to realise that, I forgave The Other Half his cluelessness with directions. He is right all along. I am the one who has too much mental clutter of options, distractions and brain fog. *lighbulb moment for me*

In conclusion, it may not matter which way we use as long as we get there on time *hums the familiar tune where caravans were written within its lyrics* Revelations from Him, SubhanAllah the clarity is astounding (to me).

Have a wonderful evening, my lovelies!

Mighty Monday

Alhamdulillah it went well! Not superbly over the moon and back/see fireworks and rainbows type of well, but well enough to say "we almost nailed this one!" I could not have asked for more.

The air was fresh. Alhamdulillah.

The sun was shining brightly. Alhamdulillah.

The birds were chirping. Alhamdulillah.

I tried a new route to school without Garmin on, and it was easier despite the RM1.50 toll on MEX. I will save this route for emergencies (pray I will not be needing this route, Amin!).

I did not miss the junction to school. Alhamdulillah!

I brought the entire lot of books and it was indeed the right thing to do. The teachers have taken all the books which I have labelled and I will deposit the rest of the loot which I have only just labelled and wrapped this afternoon, tomorrow morning. Alhamdulillah and in sha Allah.

The Little Girl sat with T2, so that took care of any jitters they each may have had. There was a tiny frown and tear when the teacher ushered me out of class ever so politely and discreetly. Things quickly went uphill then as the little ones settled down and the mums hang out/catch up with one another, making merry new friends and set up a support group just like the kids! Alhamdulillah.

The cream bun and water were good decisions. There were no pre-paid meals in a bento box today so the measly meal saved The Little Girl from hunger and thirst on our drive home. There was no vanilla bun left, as The Other Half wolfed it down last night at supper (and did not tell me). Luckily I had a spare stash! Alhamdulillah.

Bean went to his wellness appointment without fuss. He cried during weighing, measuring and injection but was civil enough to say "bye bye" and waved to his paed. He even had a nap in the car then came home all merry and jolly. Super duper alhamdulillah.

We are still in two minds about putting The Little Girl on the secure school bus, so we will wait and see how my timing for daily commute works out to be. By secure, I mean dedicated chaperone teachers on board with driver's cellphone number and the rest of the class. Everyone seems to be on the bus except us. I hope The Little Girl will not miss out on the fun social life on board a school bus (I recall my fun years riding in one but those were different times with different circumstances).

On our drive home, I did not miss my exit junction. Super alhamdulillah.

It was lunch hour but the traffic was not too bad. Alhamdulillah.

In a nutshell, it was awesome and great start! May Allah swt bless The Little Girl abundantly, make every day as smooth as today and keep her safe always. Amin.

Sunday Blues

Don't be blue, be thankful that you have a job to go to tomorrow.

Think of the lovely outfit and accessories, me-time during the commute/drive, potentially challenging tasks that will bring you to your next milestone or career high, scrumptious back-to-work lunch gathering, tea gossips of lovely holidays last December and jolly colleagues.

Please pardon my fluffy post. 

That is my cover for first day jitters of sending my firstborn to Big School tomorrow. It feels like she has been around forever and is only going to Big School? Not university? *insert nervous laughter*

I have yet to label/wrap/pack her books! I had almost the entire December to do it but I procrastinated/got distracted and now live to scamper late on eve of first day at Big School. I should be scolding myself for being so ineffective, inefficient, etc but I guess I had better spend whatever little time left before waking up time to get my act together. 

By getting my act together, I mean lugging the entire lot of books into my car boot first thing tomorrow so I won't have to miss a single book out if we need any during orientation. Loser mum disguised as a kiasu mum, oh dear me.

The dining hall had timely published the menu but I am not able to view it because my access which had been working just fine all along got into a little situation of wrong username and password. Now I don't know if lunch will be served tomorrow...so it may be a good idea to bring a bottle of water and a piece of vanilla bun along, just in case?

Well, wish me luck! 

A mild depression which traditionally hits me every December made its ugly annual appearance and I confess it got the better of my preparation for commencement of school. I promise to get my act together, especially now that we are well into January. I sincerely pray I won't have to wait until after my birthday in February to feel like I have ushered in the new year. 

Bean has a wellness check-up concurrent with The Little Girl's Orientation Day so I wish I can clone myself and be at two places simultaneously. The reality is The Other Half will take Bean *insert mummy guilt* no wonder my mild depression is turning into something else (let's not make a mountain out of a molehill argument going on in my head). Let's just be thankful that The Other Half is able to take Bean to see his busy, always full of appointments but wonderfully-gifted and skilful paed. 

Chill pill for me. I need to chase my Sunday blues away. 

Happy return to the grind, my lovelies! May 2015 be a fruitful and fulfilling year for you and I, Amin! Goodnight.

1 Jan 2015

I made my PIL smile today! Alhamdulillah, great start to the year.

1 down, 364 to go *grinning*

Here is my no secret method of which I am happy to share with you:

Happy New Year, my lovelies!