dig my new boots ?

It isn't exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a knee-high, leather, different colour. But I take this because it's cute with a vintage look and when I tried it on, its very very soft and comfy.

AND it costs RM 23.00. I'm not kidding. Such a steal.

Apparently it was the last pair on clearance , exactly my size at a little boutique somewhere in town. (susah juga cari boots yang ngam size tau, not to add yang ngam budget).

I decide to abandon search here and shop at the destination. I still want another proper boots.

The destination ? Did I tell you I'm going to Korea? I didn't? Well, I am in about a week's time with my  family and all my sisters and their families.

I hope to blog from there. So stay tune.

Today is better

After a disastrous day yesterday which I'd rather not talk about, today feels a lot better.

From a nice breakfast outside with my youngest, to getting him to do extra homework without protest (a rare), to having lunch with BFF at our favourite place, to getting an early birthday present. Who doesn't like early present?

Also we got free parking, by the grace of V's hotel guest friend (don't forget to say thank you again V!).

Today is definitely better than yesterday.

P/s : I'll show you the present in 3 months time.

Sad

Sad weekend here for mom and sis in law. Some lowlife had broken into Labuan home (while they were there Friday night)and took off with their cellphones and handbags, and whatever inside. Fortunately no one was harmed and no major valuables stolen but what a damper that is to a supposedly relaxing weekend. The irritating troublesomeness of sorting out with authority and all the personal official documents to be reapplied. Curse to the burglar.

And then the sad passing of the great Whitney Houston. Greatest voice ever. That's all I want to remember her by. She ruled during my school years. She's the Voice. Whatever bad turnaroud befell her I blame on Bobby Brown. Foul rotten influence. If she hadn't abused substance and kept fit like Madonna (and Madonna sound like crap, how she sold out concerts i don't understand) she'd still be alive. Tiba2 marah Madonna pula ni nda pasal2.

Ok. Moral of the story - recheck the safety & security of your house and stay away from drugs.

Happy Monday.

Introducing new maid

Finally i have a maid. After searching high and low (as if). No I haven't really. The truth is, i didn't try hard , i'm getting quite comfortable with no maid. Tiring yes but satisfying, i set my own standards and sometimes the kids chip in where they can. I am managing fine. Hubby is the one concerned about me getting tired and stressed out.

Ok, maybe the biggest downside, i do get stressed out over a particular chore - cooking. I over think about cleaning up after, which i truly hate, which sees me opting for boring simple no mess meals. And then i stressed myself further trying to get creative, time efficient, energy saving and so on.

Righ, enough blabbering, i digress.

So meet Fitriyani. Just that, no surname. Nickname Nani. Compared to previous maids, this one is XL (ok call me mean, i'm just saying). But her face is cute. She's comel, that's the exact impression. Her record is good, she stays long with employer, not a job-hopper.

I hope i dont jinx the record by announcing this news.

Ok, till later, wish me luck with this one.

New Year post

I actually stayed up till the stroke of midnight. I haven't done that for some time. Normally I turned in my usual bedtime not bothering to count down. This year my inlaws arranged bbq and fireworks so there was that to look for. Seeing the sky erupt with the bursting flames and booming noise. The area we stay is always big on fireworks. Chinese new year , xmas, eid, you'd be sure there'll be someone starting the crackers. So it was like some sort of competition, one display after another all round the neighbourhood. The kids were beside themselves with glee, jumping and shrieking.

Later, barely an hour after everyone turned in, sad news came in. Hubby's elderly relative who's been warded for 3 weeks has passed away. Hubby and his mom and siblings left for hometown next morning for the burial.

I stayed with the kids and got to a last gathering at a sister's for tea and bubur durian. As if I haven't been stuffing myself enough. We had bubur durian too at our bbq and then durian cake. Not durian shaped or durian flavored cake, ok. This is a cake with durian flesh, generously, layered in it. Yummy, my word..that's the most fresh durian cake I ever tasted. I don't know when I turned into a durian lover. I normally don't really go crazy.

Yesterday I went for another gathering at a friend's to watch a certain box office movie on
her CD. Over rated in my opinion. It was not bad, it wasn't really great. What's great is our lunch that day. Perfect ten for Sri's mom's cooking. The sambal ikan masin and bambangan made serious damage to my diet plan. Seriously, I couldn't not have second helping with that combination. I had third and fourth helpings. Help me.

Oh well. Have a blessed year everyone.

I like ..

This new thing i got for my house plant.

Pretty, yes ?

The tiny colorfuls are beautiful and so cute to look at especially in the morning when i wake up and start the day. I love their texture and the fact that they thrive under my neglectful care. They're the perfect houseplant for me.

nature strike

some sort of hurricane last night. no, early this morning.

the roof lost some of the shingles. some flew to neighbour's roof. some scattered on the ground. flower pots in the yard strewn about. newly planted trees nearly uprooted. a mess.

the wind was scary wasn't it? lucky it didn't go on too long.

have a better day ahead.

Helmi..the accident prone

Anak aku luka. Lagi. Berjahit. Lagi.
Dulu di muka sekarang di kaki.

Nda tau la anak sorang ni. Kalau nda luka-luka sampai berjahit setiap tahun nda sah kan.

Memang accident prone dia ni. Orang lain berbasikal laju-laju tak jatuh. DIA jugaaa yang jatuh.
Lepas jatuh, baru basikal hempap dia, roda dan rantai masih berputar kena dekat-dekat buku lali. Koyak.

Dia punya teriak masa mau jarum ubat bius ! macam apa saja. nasib baik ada Ira ikut pegang.
'JANGAN!JANGAN! SAKIT!SAKIT! NDA MAU! AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!'

Tangis mati bah!

Sudah masuk ubat bius baru ok. Sempatlah Ira ambil gambar.

Nasib baik bapa nya tiada. Pergi KL. Kalau inda, sudahlah basikal tu kena buang.

Let's hope it won't happen again, next year, or ever.

the long awaited high tea and some shopping

I enjoyed high tea yesterday with beloved friends whom I don't see often enough lately. I guess the next time we do tea will be after Raya. It was to celebrate their birthday this year, one in July one in August.

I'm happy they like my birthday presents which I got an hour earlier.

Tea was great. So much more buffet spread on Saturday, the only downside being the place too crowded and noisy.

S made us go shopping and I ended up buying 2 dresses when I've vowed not to splurge anymore. Hate her.

But the lovely thing were so irresistable. Take a look.

I really like the pattern and the rich color.

The turquoise in this one pops out the dress and the v neck looks elegant.

And they both do look gorgeous on me don't they? (sila muntah)
They're just the right size and length. I've worn one (purple) last night to kenduri. It's very comfy.


Well, see you and happy fasting.

royal wedding fever

my brain is fuzzy from watching the wedding highlights over and over and over again for 2 days. my low down :

1. loving the bride's gown. absolutely elegant, she looked stunning. (my daughter remarked her boobs look pointy in the dress and the lace is sexy (!), I can't believe my daughter is more conservative than me. She just started on her training bra, guess she's just over observant on that area..

2. love the second kiss.

3. prince william is so loving. i feel stabs of pain for Diana everytime the two exchange looks of love throughout the ceremony and everytime he holds her hand, wait for her, glancing at her. had she lived to see this, she would have been so proud and happy for him.

4. the queen look too yellow, but she also look like she stopped ageing, she look the same since Diana's funeral. Camilla look older than her.

5. can't comprehend for the life of me, the style of princess beatrice. she really intend to appear live on tv around the world in this.

6. i like when the jet fly over the balcony, can't feel much excitement on tv, but must be amazing to be there and see and hear it live. worth camping for the crowd.

I can go on and on, but I'll stop at 6. I 'll leave you to ponder more.

Now excuse me, I'm off for lunch with me sisters to go over the wedding AGAIN.

Happy Labour Day !

reckless me

monumental terribleness happened that made me want to shoot myself. i wish yesterday 4pm didn't happen, that it was all a dream. a bad nightmare.

i wrecked my car, destroying the fender while trying to manouver a narrow lane and caught the back corner of a truck that carelessly parked exceeding  space. it escaped unscathed. no point blaming truck. i should have been more careful.

i know, oh-my-god is right.

i feel sick to my stomach with horror and guilt. i have always scratched my car but this is the worst. i should be banned. i should drive a tank instead.

all this has eclipsed the excitement for an anticipated lovely weekend. everyone's busy with preparing for my son's and my mother in-law's  double birthday celebrations this weekend. a bit hard to lift up my spirit now.

i hope the weather stays fine. the party venue is outside  town. we're having a weekend getaway.

till then, have a fab day.

Blogging is neglected

..because I'm engrossed in this :-

, and this :-

Two good finds over the weekend while nursing the after-effect of a terrible headache that started on Friday. One of the worst I had in a long time. I suspect the cause to be the combination of  insane heat and over exerting myself physically in the gym after not going for months. Big, big mistake. My whole muscle aches, my head throbs and the weather is so hot, I am cranking the aircon night and day.

I hope you have a better week.

buttonwood massage

Lately I'm prone to back aches, especially around my neck and shoulder. Why. Is this age? I'm always gettting that 'selahau bantal' pain, sometimes at the frequency of once a week. I need to go for body massage. One good place I know for this is the bone theraphy place at Jalan Lintas. I know it says bone but they do broader stuff than that, including fixing knotted veins and such. But the thing that hold me back there is that the theraphy is uncomfortable. Well, no pain no gain they say. If you want your body fixed, prepare to endure pain. The treatment combines hot compress, machine treatment and a little hand massage on the problem area. The hot compress I don't look forward to. Feels stuffy when my neck sweat and the vapour suffocate me, and that's the process that takes the longest. The actual massage is very, very short, like 5 minutes, just around the problem area.

So I wish for alternative. I would like a longer whole body massage that relaxes as well as fix the problem, like not all pain.
Right on cue, my beautician called to remind me I haven't claimed my voucher for a free body massage.

Which I got at a lucky draw sometime last year. So I immediately made appointment.

And I was ready for some detoxification action on Tuesday. It sounded exciting.

But I was in for a surprise. Because the whole treatment was using a machine. I wasn't in for a good old fashion massage after all. I had no idea that this was what you call buttonwood. I thought buttonwood somehow involves a wood device for kneading the back in a pleasurely way. I recall her saying using some machine but not.. I didn't ...oh..let me explain the whole process. If you could click the photo bigger, you would see the many buttons marked suction, vacuum, release, suck circular, etc..Well I was exactly done that way. My back was sucked,  then vacuumed, then sucked in circular motion, released, repeat 20 times, all over my back. I was a carpet being cleaned! Torture. Oh what was I thinking. Absolute torture. The suction cup squeezed me so hard that I yelped out for the therapist to stop. I thought my bone was going to crush. Seriously, but she was calm , 'no,no,no...memang begitu ..itu mula2 saja..'
True, the cup released just before it broke the bone. After a while, I kind of got the rythm and expected the coming pain. Everytime it squeezed, I took a deep breath and counted the seconds when it released . The lady pointed out how my shoulder was full of 'winds' because it turned red in no time compared to the other parts.

The shoulder felt better but now my back look horrible. They are so red, like I'm scalded. Ghastly. My daughter took pictures but I'm never showing you. I'll spare you the gruesome image. I think the mark stays for weeks. Next time, I'm going to Jalan Lintas.

LIKE

I would like to 'click' LIKE to these ole-ole I got recently from a family friend who just returned from a vacation in Vietnam.

Fabric. Lovely pre-embroidered plain colour chiffon. Nice beadwork too. I love it.

Funny how just weeks ago I was leafing through some magazines trying to get ideas for baju raya. I already decided I would wear plain colour. This is what I was looking at.

I would like something like this. Plain color and nice simple beadings. Ok, the fabric I got has more intricate work of sequins and beads on it than the above but they're just  in one spot, not all over the fabric. I think the fashion is going to work fine. I can't wait for the finished dress. I've got 2 kain now, another from dear mom-inlaw, which is a colorful floral print. I'm making them into baju kurung asli. So that's baju raya issue pretty much settled , at least for myself, gotta think of hubby's and the childrens' now. I guess we're all wearing green this year.

Another souvenier from Vietnam. A hat. Tourist hat or gardening hat, I don't know. It's tiny.

This thing is collapsible.

Do you know what I thought it was at first? Umbrella. A toy umbrella or maybe a food cover, you know tudung saji. Until my sister-in law pointed out, it's a bell hat. Bell/straw hat. Ok.

I appreciate the gifts. They're making me happy.

Condolence

We are shocked and saddened by the news that a couple of Malaysians who died in an accident in Jedah several days ago, were in fact a friend's family. We could only imagine the trauma this must be for him and his family, to have endured the tragic incident at the start of their journey and  to have to deal with it and carry on with their ibadah umrah. What a sad, distraughtful place to be.

We hope they find the strength and solace in each other and the guidance and  will to get through the pain and sorrow.

Our condolence and prayers for the family and may the souls rest in peace.

not good

a boring one yesterday. raining all day causing cancelled errands,  streamyx  down causing hopeless internet, and nothing good on TV making a complete dull day.

i baked a chocolate cake with a generous ganache. a little bit runny so I used the leftover as chocolate syrup on my toast. bliss.

when i level my cake, i don't throw away the cut portion, do you? i save it, for eating later. and  that's what i did mostly yesterday, eating the leftover after breaking it up in a bowl and spoon  heaps of the ganache all over it like a sauce and eat it like a meal. divine, divine.

i'm sure that was the cause of my headache last night. too much chocolate in my system. at 1 am i couldn't sleep. i needed migraine pill to ease it and help me drift off.

what any of it has to do with these pictures? nothing.

on another day a week ago, i spruced up the plain ole headband of my daughter's with a pink black ribbon. she likes it.

Where I've Been Today

To a friend's house warming kenduri.

My friend Wati has moved in to her brand and GRAND new home.

I'm very excited for her. I've passed by her house a couple of times admiring the exteriors, the fencing, the design, all beautiful and ofcourse couldn't wait to see inside.

And today I've finally step over the treshold and I've got loads of pictures to share with you. I've asked her permission to blog.

So, everyone please follow me. Be quiet and pay attention. We are going on a tour.



This is the main entrance


To the main living room - showing the right side wall


View of the left side taken from the centre.


Further on the right side wall, a fireplace and another living room


Pausing on the fireplace. That's a fake fire ofcourse.


The first living room, view from the staircase.


next to it, is this family room. my camera doesn't do justice but this area is beautiful. the look is elegant and I love the colour.


The first living room, at the centre leads to the dining room (at the right, leads to 2nd living room)


End of the dining room, towards dry kitchen


But at the left side of the dining room, another sitting area


with same set furnitures


and a bench


Ok, the dry kitchen. Wall-to-wall cabinets.







the island


nice ceiling design


this is the wet kitchen. ya, i'll bring you inside.


here.


This is the second living room


And this has got to be everyone's favourite spot


The garden terrace


Perfect for reading, lazying about, messing around..


She didn't need to worry about new decorations.


She got loads from her old house


Very pretty



Ok, going upstairs now


This is the family room


The walk-in wardrobe


The master bedroom


His dressing table (outside the bathroom)


Her dressing table (in the bedroom)


The master bathroom


The private living room


Chandelier in the hallway


verandah


another chandelier


this is a bar. there's a sink you can't see behind.


Back downstairs. The front yard. Two canopies for serving food.

This is actually feast for relatives. They will hold another kenduri in March for friends. But the food is enough for open house occassion.

Thank you so much Wati for the grand tour. Congratulations again to you and Mus for your beautiful new home.