#122 - Snippets of the Week Part 9

Assalamualaikum.

Today is the last day of February, second month of the year and this is my first post of 2014. Wow!

A lot of things happened for the last couple of months that make it impossible for me to sit down and put down my thoughts. Plus, being a SAHM can be challenging with ever the curious little toddler of mine. 

Anyway, here's are my updates since I tendered my resignation in November.

1) During the first month of employment, I took the opportunity to spring cleaning the room and plus the house. Though not entirely because most of the stuff are not mine but at least the house looks like a house rather than a reban ayam.

2) My bestfriend, Yan is back from Brisbane for good and she got me Nine West heels that I super love. When she asked me what I want from Aussie, I told her I want shoes. Since the shoes that I like was not available at the outlet so I asked her to get something that screams me. And she nailed it! That is my bestfriend/soulmate right there. Awesome I tell you.

3) My FIL was admitted to ICU for heart condition in the middle of January so we've been travelling to Kuantan quite often. Then, he was transferred to IJN, KL. So another round of visiting him at the hospital everyday. I became Gloria Jeans regular over there because they only allowed children below 12 after 6pm. 

4) During CNY, we made impromptu trip to Jakarta and Bandung. Spent 6 days and 5 nights. It was quite an eye opener trip if you asked me. We only went to Pasar Baru in Bandung to buy some lace (itupun sebab my MIL order kain lace and my aunty hasn't been to Pasar Baru before) and spent like 3 hours there. Ahhh the horror. We managed to avoid the crowd and off to Jakarta after lunch. In Jakarta, we skipped Tanah Abang and visited the major shopping complexes instead. We were lucky enough not having to experience macet in Jakarta as we were there on weekends and most of them were out of Jakarta. 

5) Celebrated my 31st birthday in February with Family at Harrods Cafe KLCC and the lovely bunch at Melur & Thyme KLCC. Happening like always.

6) And the biggest news of all, I've started working again. My ex manager proposed my name at the higher management and I was offered on the spot. I was speechless. It is quite a distance but so far I'm liking the place, colleagues and most importantly the job. However, please ask me again after 1 month.

#99 - Nutella Mug Cake

Assalamualaikum.

So my husband invited some of his cousins to come over last weekend for iftar. Initially we wanted to have our iftar outside but since one of them just had a baby , we decided to have it at home.

Being such an undomestic goddess, of course I opted for take-away. Like, I'm struggling to cook for 4 people, you can't expect me to cook for 10 people. We ordered 4 chicken mandy and salad from Saba' Restaurant and lamb vindaloo from Mughal Restaurant.

As for dessert, I decided to try something new. I made Nutella Mug Cake. Have it with vanilla ice cream. Oh sedapnya.

Everyone loves it and the most important thing, En. Suami loves it too. Makes everything worth it!

For recipe, please click here Irma di London

#98 - Snippets of the Week Part 7

Good day lovelies!

Here some snippets of what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks;

1) Although we are only on second week of Ramadhan, both of us are basically done with our raya preparation. By raya preparation, I mean our attire. Yeah, so semangat like that. The thing is, I sent all my materials earlier this year thinking I could wear them during my cousin's wedding and repeat them during raya but unfortunately, the tailor couldn't get them ready on time.

2) I learned (the hard, sad way) that not all people can understand my jokes. Regardless how long you know someone. Sad but true.

3) I'm beginning to enjoy my work. Alhamdulillah.

4) Since both En. Suami's aunt and uncle invited both us to join them for iftar every night, I only have the opportunity to cook for En. Suami during Sahur. So far, we have missed one sahur.

5) I seriously to catch up with my closet organizing, clothes folding and house cleaning.

6) I already applied for my hari raya leave and am planning to bake something for En. Suami's birthday which is on hari raya's eve.

That's all for now.

Till then.

#90 - Interior Designing

Lately, I spend a lot of time watching property and home deco programs on Life Inspired channel. No, we are not buying our first home yet. It's just matter of getting some ideas on what we are going to do with our first house when we buy one.

Last time I used to cringe thinking on how much we are going to spend on furniture but after getting some inspirations from shows like Pure Design and For Rent, I know I can get awesome interior design without costing a bomb.

So in the meantime, since I can't decorate my own home, I used my creative ideas to rearrange furniture in our current place. 

#79 - Productive Monday

Today must have been one of the productive days during my third trimester. I swept the floor and cleaned the windows. I wished to do so much more but I always need to remind myself not to overdo things. Need to remind myself that I am 8 months pregnant.

I tend to do a lot of things that my body cannot handle and by the end of the day, I suffered. A lot! Thus, the need of the constant reminders.

If you are wondering what I have been doing ever since I resigned, I did a lot of folding and cooking (and a lot of tv). Not so much of cleaning. So, since today I don't have to cook for dinner, I took the opportunity to clean and organize our room which looked like a total shipwrecked.

The next thing on my plate would be getting the stuff ready for the baby. Need to pack for the hospital bag as well as pack for the stuff that we are going to bring my mom's place. Hopefully, we could get half the things done by end of this week.

Plus, I need to settle the laundry as well. But I need to wait for En. Suami to do it. It's a bummer that I could not lift heavy things at this point otherwise I'd settle the laundry myself. Do you know, doing laundry is one the house chores that pregnant lady should avoid. You don't? Well, there you go. You're welcome.

Hopefully, I still have the energy to do all the pending tasks. So many things to do yet so little time.

Till then.

#74 - Snippets of the Week Part 4

Wow, almost a month and no update whatsoever.

Selamat Hari Raya and hope everyone had a good celebration. This year, we went back to En. Suami's hometown and I had a blast. It has been a while since I have a lot of relatives in the same house at the same time. It feels nice. Dah lama tak rasa berebut toilet. 

On that raya morning, my family in KL called up and sang Dendang Perantau to me. No prize for guessing who cried like a baby.

Anyway, here's some snippets on what I have been up to;

1) We spent most of our weekend visiting relatives and friends. That is what Raya is all about. Alhamdulillah, the traffic was not that bad during our "jalan-jalan raya". On the other hand, I am running out of dresses to wear so I've been wearing pants instead. But, nobody get to say anything to this pregnant lady. I can wear whatever I want.

2) We went for our monthly check up and Alhamdulillah Little Star is doing well. Little Star is now 1.3kg and I am currently at my heaviest. I have swollen legs and can't fit into any of my shoes anymore (boo hoo)

3) I'm getting a little bit lazy and tired lately. It took me twice the time to do everything. It feels like first trimester all over again. Maybe because I'm getting heavier?

Basically, that's about it. 

Till then.

#73 - Snippets of the Week Part 3

2nd week of becoming a housewife and the only down side of not working is I don't have the access to blog everyday. Not really fond blogging from iPad. The only choice is to borrow my SIL's Macbook. Maybe I should get myself a laptop but En. Suami prefers desktop. Whatever it is, I need to have either one so I can blog.

Anyway, here's another snippets on what I've been up to since last week.

1) Was in Pekan last week for gotong royong session. But, we didn't actually participate (more like tunjuk muka) since we arrived Pekan only on Saturday evening. Spent one night there and headed back to Kuantan on Sunday morning. 

2) Since some of the states were on public holiday that Monday (Selangor included), we took the opportunity to shop for my Raya dress in Kuantan. Managed to get one maxi dress and one blouse (approved by MIL) but still not done with raya shopping as I need to find something blue to match En. Suami. 

3) During our monthly check up (the reason why we arrived late in Pekan), we finally can confirm on our Little Star's gender. But, I would like to keep it as a secret first. You guys have to wait until November to find out *wink*

4) Went to Kenanga Wholesale City with Ain. The mall was huge. We bought more than we should. But, I managed to get the blue dress for raya and red dress for my brother's wedding. I have a feeling that I'm probably going to buy another dress for his wedding but if not, I just wear the dress that I already bought. So now I am pretty much settled with raya preparation. Oh, except for shoes.

5) I wanted to bake some cookies but we don't have an oven. Maka, impian tinggal impian. But, it is good to know that my favourite cookies is also En. Suami's favourite. I should just master that one particular cookies. 

6) For En. Suami's birthday, I planned to cook his favourite dish which is Spaghetti Carbonara. But, my SIL invited to her house for iftar so we celebrated his birthday with his siblings. But, I managed to prepare the dish the day after that. It was ok. En. Suami finished off everything and it really makes everything worth it.

6) I finally found the time to reorganize my closet. OMG, do I have a lot of shawls. The shawls in the picture above are only half of them. But still, I think they are not enough. Sigh.

This year, we will be going back to Kuantan and Pekan for Raya. I only have a few days left to settle everything before we head back next Thursday. I should prepare a list of things to bring because lately I always forget things.

Let's hope I can squeeze some time to blog before another long hiatus.

Till then.

#61 - Snippets of the Week Part 2

It has been a while since I last posted pictures on this blog. So, during our little outing/date last week, I tried to snap a few photos but not too much though because we were busy eating and talking.

1) We went for our monthly check up but with a different doctor. The one that we usually saw was on leave last Saturday. Initially we wanted to see her on Friday but because of the bad traffic we couldn't make it. Based on our personal point of view, we preferred Dr. K rather than Dr. Z. We felt that Dr. K is more friendly and more informative. Anyway, we thought we could see the gender of Little Star but we couldn't just yet. So we have to wait for next month check up to find out (hopefully).

2) We went to Ampang for my friend's daughter's aqiqah. We basically there for lunch. Thought of going out for shopping after that but looking at the traffic condition, we decided to stay in. At least, I managed to re-organize both of our closets. 

3) After dinner, we decided to have some ice cream so we scouted for the best place to hang out. Unfortunately there's not much choice. We ended up buying McD's ice cream sundae and enjoyed them in the comfort of our own couch.

4) Sunday is our lazy day. We stayed in and did nothing. And of course, there was Wimbeldon's final game.

It has been a very laid back weekend. I wished I could do more. Like sorting the laundry and whatever not but I think we did some progress by re-organizing the closet. More space for En. Suami and me. Now we only need to make some space for Little Star.

Can't wait to have our own love nest in the future.

Till then.

#25 - Back Up Plan

Hello.

Going back to working life means I have limited time to do house chores; laundry, cooking, cleaning up etc. Everything have to be done in the span of 3 hours. Why 3 hours? I reached home around 7 - 7.30pm and by 11pm I have to be ready for bed.

Last week, I didn't get to do so much as I was so tired. Mind you I haven't travel with public transportation for more than 3 years now. So by the time I reached home and prepared dinner, I was so tired and can hardly move my leg.

As much as I want to everything on weekend, I could not do so. Because by the time weekend comes, the house will look like a total shipwreck. I don't think I can live in a mess for that long and pity En. Suami. Plus, on weekend we always off to En. Suami's hometown or involved in some other social activities.

Now, I'm learning to spread my chores. Every 2 days, I would do laundry before I go to work. Then, I while I'm preparing dinner, I'll put them in the dryer. So by the time we finish dinner, laundry is done and I can fold the clothes while watching tv.

Every other day, I'll iron En. Suami's work clothes so I don't have to do it in the morning.

Other major stuff like mopping, vacuuming, I have to wait until weekend though. I don't want to drain my energy so much because I have to wake up early.

Sounds like a good plan, eh?

Let's see if I can follow my own system.

Till then.

#23 - Work It

Hello.

So, I'm back to work. On my third day and I only got my pc yesterday evening. With no mouse and internet cable so I have to borrow from a colleague who is still on leave.

Been travelling by train for the past 3 days which I found quite convenient as PUTRA LRT is just opposite my house. Plus, I get to walk almost 5KM (or less) everyday. To some, it seems like a long walk but I'm enjoying it. No traffic. And I get to do one of the things I like to do; reading.

Travelling with public transportation means I have to leave the house early. It was quite sad on the first day because normally I would send my husband off to work but now, it's the other way around. Basically, the routine now change a little bit.

Well, that's life.

How's everyone's new year?

Nothing extravagant on my side. Had lunch with my family and later in the day, dinner with my in laws. Fair and square.

On Monday, after lunch went out with my in laws to Empire Shopping Gallery for some shopping and tea. I didn't do any shopping (surprisingly).

But the best thing was, my FIL bought us some mugs because he claimed that we don't have enough mugs. Then En. Suami said, "we have plenty of mugs. The only thing missing is pots." And my FIL was like, "jom beli"

He brought us to the store and all of us went crazy. The price was reasonable and I might be going back there.

So now we already have pots, a new set of knives and new pans. Yeay!

But of course, the pressure for me to cook is on because I have all the basic utensils now. Haha.

Till then.

#20 - Being a Housewife

Assalamualaikum.

Almost a week being a housewife. And the famous questions are, "apa perasaan jadi housewife?" or "best tak jadi housewife?"

Truth be told, it's too damn early to say whether best ke tidak jadi housewife. Belum masuk 2 minggu pun. Lepas 2 minggu, mungkin kaki ini dah tergedik2 nak bekerja kembali.

Separuh jiwa mahu bekerja balik secepat mungkin sebab hendak duit. Macam mana nak berholiday atau bershopping sakan kalau duit takde. Tak perlu cakap, "ala suami kau kan ada. boleh sponsor". Maaf suami saya peneman hidup bukan ATM saya. Tapi, separuh jiwa saya meronta-ronta nak duduk di rumah.

Kalaulah saya boleh work from home. That would be the best.

I have to find ways so I can work from home. The, I don't have to deal with any office politics and annoying colleagues.

Please pray for me, ok.

Till then.

#19 - Masterchef (Pressure Test)

So today is my second day as a housewife. Till this minute, I've done laundry, vacuumed, little wiping here ans there plus prepare today's lunch.

En. Suami is on half day off today so I'm taking the opportunity to cook something. You know, to enhance my cooking skills.

Prepared fried chicken (his all time favourite), ikan tenggiri masak asam and stir fried choy sum with squid.

Hope he likes them.

#8 - Curry Gone Wrong

So, En. Suami was asking me to cook chicken curry the other day. Of all things. I wonder if he is reading this blog.

He was out to get groceries for the house when I asked him what he wants for dinner so I can google on the recipe (He was on half day leave and I was working at that time). He said, chicken curry.*Gulp*

So, instead of googling the recipe, I turned to the most reliable source, My Mom.

I also planned what other things to cook just in case my curry gone wrong.

I prepared everything before Maghrib and started cooking right away after prayer.

It was alright in the beginning until I poured down the santan. You see, the reason why I don't really fancy cooking curry or anything berlemak for that matter is because of santan. I don't know how to estimate. So, my curry did not look like curry. More like percik. Hahahah.

I felt so bad cause I wanted to make it good for En. Suami.

Alhamdulillah , it was still edible.

Nevertheless, I will try again until I can make it right.

Till then.

#7 - What's cooking?

Couple of weeks ago, me and En. Suami went out for our long overdue movie date. While we were having our lunch, we decided to have dinner at home. You see, we are trying to cut down on our expenses. So, since our movie will be over around 6pm, there'll be plenty of time for me to prepare dinner.

I was thinking of what to cook when I realized that I don't really know any chicken dishes that involve gravy. That time I felt like, "kenapalah aku tak belajar masak betul-betul dulu" when I remembered that I can cook tomyam.

So, tomyam for dinner. But, I cannot be cooking tomyam ayam for the rest of my life, kan? Therefore, I am determined to learn a few more dishes.

Wish me all the best!

Till then.

#3 - Woes

To those who can cook, I am so jealous of you.

Yes, I can cook. Simple dishes. That's it. Masak kari? Aku pengsan di dapur.