The curtain

This is my curtain at the living room bay windows. Bought the fabric at the Ikea on a very crowded Sunday afternoon, with kids tugging at my pants pleading to go to the kids' section and 'make-up-your-mind-fast' expression on the hubby's face. Seriously, the very undecisive me could not think straight in that situation and decided on the cheaper one, at RM19.00 per metre.
It turned out to be too thin. I love the abundance of morning sunlight that comes streaming down up to half of the room at early as 7.30 am, but we just really need some shades.
I found another fabric at RM2.60 per metre and added another layer to it. That's better;).

A few days ago, I was viewing the 2007 Ikea catalogue and at page 265, I found this.


I know Ikea is now heavily promoting their fabric, how do I feel seeing the same material of my curtain as a jacket, just like atiza found someone made a pair of pants out of hers, I guess.

Anyway, just a filler post before the weekend.

Most probably will balik kampung to hubby's side. He has not suggested but I can read his mind. Ahh...yummy buka puasa stuff, mom-in-law style. We will start off with the kids jumping in the pool again *roll eyes*, but not before listening to some some students' thesis presentation which will start soon.

You too, have a good one ok;).

I'm a 'fruit-peeler'

MWD talks about snacks that she makes for her kid after school, and that inspire me to write too (despite, I should be running to pasar malam, fetch the kids, shooh them to the swimming pool for 1/2 hour and cook for buka puasa...*pengsan*)

Anyway, I cut some fruits, divide them into two little bowls as snacks before mealtimes. I did that a lot at the old place as we always got home late, before dinner. But, even now I'm still doing it.


An orange would stay like this forever unless someone do something. Someone just got to first peel the outer skin, later remove the skin at each 'ulas' (I'm sorry for my limited English, have no idea what people call it), and if it is not seedless, somebody got to remove the seed.

And I'm not doing it for only the kids, but also the father.


And a few days ago, since the girls never tried a red dragonfruit before, I bought one. msau mentioned that it taste better than the white one.


And yes, it tastes better alright. They love it.

I can handle messy kids eating fruits

But the sofa cover was just washed a day before that. I'd have to be more careful the next time I decide on red dragonfruit again;).

I'm sorry if the arrangement of the pics not good, am still having a prob with that.

Selamat Berbuka to all muslims, and hope the non-muslims tumpang enjoy the bazaar Ramadan too;)

I'm out of here!

That few moments when I didn't feel the pain

I'm still having a severe blogger's block, been blog-hopping without placing comments.
Anyway, think I just write a quick one.

I was having a headache one late night. I could not lie down as the throbbing became worse. Hubby pushed the armchair to the room for me to sleep in, but if I don't lie down, my Bea3 would not sleep too.

It started off as something due to tiredness as I was fasting two days before that. Then it awfully hurt to swallow hard food. In the afternoon, the doc at the clinic said it could be ulcers. He said my pallete was a bit reddish.

The pain went down from the head to my lower jaw, near my molars, then that night spread to the whole of lower jaw and at the back of upper jaw.

It was strange to me and it freaked me real bad.

The paracetamol just didn't work.

At 3 am, hubby decided that we needed a trip to the hospital A&E. He drove around with the sleeping 3 girls while I was crying and pleading the nurses that I really needed some painkillers.

It became worse as the doctor who treated me didn't give any clue of what I was having. My blood pressure, temperature etc were normal. I was the one suggested that the ulcers might have hit some nerves that goes to the head, and comes down to the jaws. He just went "It might be that...", and that was all, he had been working long hours, I guessed trying to cool myself.

At 4.30 am, I got a ponstan jab at my buttock. 5.00 am, I finally dozed off.

Woke up when I realised Bea3 was not by my side. I ran outside and I saw her in the stroller. Hubby was getting all 3 girls ready to be sent to the babysitter.

Told him, Bea3 would need me for the milk but let the 2 girls followed him.

The painkiller worked for about 12 hours, it was a peaceful day with only one baby with me, I missed the others, though. I continued with Ibuprofen and another type of oragel prescribed by the hospital.

And I forced myself to drink more water and stuff myself with food.

I went to the dentist later to confirm if it has anything to do with my teeth. The dentist said not at all, and she said anything cured by the ibuprofen might not be related to the teeth. Toothache needs more powerful painkiller.

I'm ok now, and I learnt a bit from that experience. I wish I have time to do a bit more research on that.

Amidst the awful headache at 3 am, I never knew that anything would bring a smile on my face.

I did some shopping a day earlier, due to the pain I dumped the grocery on the floor and went straight to the room, leaving them for hubby to handle. Later, I found something missing, but didn't really bother to look.

While changing to go the the hospital, I bent down to get my shirt out from the low drawer. I felt the throbbing pain became stronger, but as I pulled it, I just could not help it, for a few moments the pain was gone, and I smiled.

And to add to the list of things placed in odd places, now I have 2 cartons of milk in my clothes drawer;).

(pic was taken later that day)
Certain time, I would go mad looking for missing stuffs but for those moments, I thank them;).

Didn't I say, this is a quick one? I'm sorry, this kind of brought the 'passion' back.

And, Ramadhan Mubarak to all muslim readers!

Orange untuk apa?

Am having a blogger's block. Think this one can be a filler post;).

I had 2 hour lectures back to back on Tuesday last week. I need to spend about 1/2 hour before that to /prepare/finalise my lecture notes.


To finalise here means to get in everything into powerpoint. Now, the trend is everything must be in powerpoint. Though I love looking at some professors (read old timers;)), enter the lecture rooms with nothing in their hands, only things in their heads.
During my time, we wrote our notes, and listened, and tried to understand at the same time. Now, students sit and listen (sometimes with the arms cross at the chest). And after the lectures, they would hand the lecturers their thumb-drives to copy the notes. I still feel annoyed with these "gesture".

Anyway, we get complains from time to time about the quality of the fresh grads nowadays. Read what
da buaya got to say. I laughed hard, and I have not laugh like that while reading a blog for a loooong time;).

Anyway, back to my story;). I found myself cursing at the traffic. It is only 3 km from the babysitter's to the office but a faulty traffic light may take up 1/2 hour for the trip....grrrr.

Then, suddenly it just occured to me. I might not have a powerpoint, but I could always talk. Everything basically in my head, and I was a bit relieved. Besides, I would have more eye-to-eye contact with the students, though I know most of the students don't really like it;).

I've been teaching my girls about the traffic lights, "Red, stop....green, go!" We always have fun with that.

And on that morning, while we moved like a snail to first Bea1's preschool (then my office):

Bea1: Orange (yellow) untuk apa?
Me: Ya, sayang?
Bea1: Red, stop, green, go...orange tu buat apa?

I laughed, think it was cute but at the same time felt sorry for myself as I never taught her anything about orange. She gave me a quizzical look, she must had thought that she had asked a silly question.

I explained that orange comes before red, and we should slow down to prepare to stop.
She gave "Ok-that-makes-sense" look, or maybe I was just imagining...hehe!

Anyway, that little conversation in the car brought a broad smile on my face, and no more worries about the lecturers.

Well, tomorrow is Tuesday and I'm all ready to face the students;).

Who looks like me?

5xmom mentioned in her comment
here that my babies all muka tak sama.

I got something from my recent balik kampung trip, so let's compare;)
The first one is Bea1, followed by Bea2 and Bea3.









And jeng, jeng....this one is mama to the 3 Beas
Well, actually the whole pic looks like this. I just can't believe it. Look at my mom. She was a stay-at-home-mom to 6 kids. Still looking good in her kebaya bandung. We still keep it, the colours are bright red, bright pink, bright blue... I go pening-pening whenever I look at it.

And that hairstyle, is it Jackie Kennedy punya style;).
I was born with two teeth, and she had a hard time as I was so sick because of that as I had problems to nurse. Luckily they fall off, and I gained weigh very fast after that. So, I can tell mom is so happy here with her healthy baby.


Some 28 years later, on the "baby's" wedding day


Anyway, of all the 3 Beas, who looks more like the mother, please. I'm tired of everybody telling me they look like papa more;).

We'd been away!

Hubby confirmed on Friday afternoon that the 5-day leave application was succesful. I was a little ecstatic and directly made the arrangement for a whole week leave, too. A bit nervous with so little time to prepare.
Our long break, presented here in more pics and less words;).

Saturday, 2nd Sept.


Selesa Hillhomes Resort.
The company (that hubby works with) paid for an apartment which is bigger than ours.
Spent one night there. Moved to Pekan to meet up a friend. The neighbour had a wedding kenduri and we were invited, ...lovely;).

Sunday, 3rd Sept.
7.20 pm, from our room in the Primula Beach Resort, Kuala Terengganu.


Beach makes me happy, sunshine and beach makes me double happy. But what about finding Bea3's third tooth sprouting, while dancing with her on the room's balcony in a way to cherish the sunshine and the wonderfull beach? It was undescribable.



Anyway, only managed to snap the pic this morning, so what you see is a LOT more than I did on that day!

Monday, 4th Sept.
It was already 10 am when we were ready to hit the beach, AND it was HOT! Hubby and the younger girls preferred the shade but Bea1 was adamant on playing with the sand.


She had packed the beach toys but had forgotten to bring them to the car, a bit upset and this all she created out of the things on the beach.


But mama just got to work. I got to find some volcanic ash, the presence was reported about 30 years ago near Jerteh. We drove to Geological Survey Dept., spent two hours there talking to some staffs and decided that we would continue with minimal infomation.

With some help from a professor by phone calls, we finally managed to locate the site. The problem was they are at a river bank, and I just hate to get wet, and hubby had injured his feet while tripping over a huge tree root. Help is always around from a bunch of kampung kids with a pet monkey.

Bea2 held tight to papa, and Bea1 went "Takut monkey...." over and over. Time for a trip to the zoo, I thought.



They swung like a tarzan (that thing is shown by red arrow), "bedebush" in the water and swam to the other side.

Kampung folks are generous people. When I politely declined the invitation to have tea at the house, the mother of the kids offered some "petai". She said it was fresh, as the monkey just pluck it for them.

Went back to Jabi for some Sate Jabi...yum!

Thought of continuing to another site, but I found out it is only about 40 minutes away from my kampung. Decided to return later.

Tuesday, 5th Sept.

We do what is best when we are back...eat, relax, eat, relax!

Wednesday, 6th Sept.

Again, lugging all 3 kids, off we went to the second site. Finding it was not a problem, supposedly. But the kampung folks said, better not with the MPV. It needs a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Very well then, we will return with the right thing. I found out about the second site from the people in Kuala Terengganu, so it is good enough for the time being.

Another beach is aroung 30 minutes away, and off we went to Tok Bali. It becomes a must every balik kampung trip, but we had the beach all for ourselves as it was a weekday.

And again, it was HOT. Does it look familiar here?


We found some damp sands under some shade, to get the girls happy, hubby reluctantly 'helped' out a bit.


Thursday, 7th Sept.

Back to KL, and I managed to persuade my parents to follow. More bonding time with the family till Sunday.

That explains my absence;).

Before I go, these words keep playing in my head

"I love my sons from the first time he opened his eyes till the day you close them"

in my favourite scene in "Troy", from Priam (Peter O'Toole, I just love this man) to Achilles (Brad Pitt). We watched it the 4th time at the hotel.