My very own ANJUNG SERI ;)

Today I am a lady at leisure! :) Decided to take 2 days leaves.... to rest and to guide the kids preparing for the monthly tests. This morning, after sending the kids to school.. I walked around the house and decided to take some picture... saje lah... nak buat my own 'Anjung Seri'.. hahaha! Coz I know the real Anjung Seri Magazine will never pick my house for their magazine... ;)

Well, ladies and gentleman.... welcome to my 'Lil Teratak :)

See that red car? That's my beloved MyVi... :)

Our 'cozy' living room

Guest dining room

Collection of family photos and some photos we took around the world di abadikan at a small corner of the guest dining room.

One of Hubby's favourite collection - wood carving bought at Bali.

Display showcase that display some souvenirs that we bought around the world. Some small plates from many cities of the world, a set of Bohemia Crystal collection that we bought in Prague (Czech Republic), a set of Murano Crystal that we bought in Venice, and some small crystals that we bought in Egypt.

More souvenirs bought during our travels in one of our display cabinets.

Family dining room @ dry kitchen. Can see my dad's old clock near the micro wave. We took that from my kampung Pilah's house before the house kena runtuh.

Our own garden. Dah nampak macam hutan la gazebo ni ye tak?? But birds love it. Every morning we can hear birds chirping around this place... quite peaceful place to be!

I'm officially a Khaled Hosseini's fan!

Last Thursday noon, I went to Mid Valley with my colleages for our lunch break - retail therapy la konon! hehe. Anyway, JJ was sooooo packed... (Apparently there was Mid Valley JJ members day... so giler punya ramai la orang dalam tu!) that I decided not to shop there and just go to MPH to find this book that Zita had recommended - a book by Khaled Hosseini - "The Kite Runner". While I was in MPH... I bumped into this nice minah salleh who recommended me a few other nice books.... alamakk... I am really on budget lah.. so really can't buy all those nice books! *sigh!*. I ended up buying these 2 books...

Both books are by the same author - Khaled Hosseini!.

So last weekend, while the kids are were in Kumon Class (friday night) and in school (Saturday morning and evening to both sekolah kebangsaan and KAFA), I had the chance to have my own sweet time reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns". (Hubby took "The Kite Flyer" to Japan - wanted to read the book in the flight and train). The book is sooooo nice!!! A pager turner indeed!!! It's sad to read how cruel life could be to our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan... and make me soooo thankful of everything I have in my life!!

I can't wait to read "The Kite Flyer"..... kena tunggu hubby habis baca dulu....

BUT MOST IMPORTANT thing that need to be done right now is doing revision with the kids. They have monthly test in both sekolah kebangsaan and KAFA on the same days - kesian the kids.... sure stress nak study and doing tests pagi sampai petang.... *sigh!*

But did we do revision on Sunday?? Nooooooooooooo..... !! Hubby came back on Saturday night and wanted to go to "The Malaysia International Landscape & Garden Festival 2008" at Lake Garden, KL on Sunday morning. You know how BIG the lake garden is.... so kepenatan lah masing2 kan.... end up tak banyak revision pun boleh buat on Sunday.... *sigh!*. Adoi doiii.... tawakal je lah....

I need a breakkk!!!

It was a stressful week. I was assigned to a new project that is related to Bank Negara RDAL reporting enhancement... quite a challenging project! In our office, the internal auditors are in the meeting room (have been there for weeks... and will be there for another weeks - so we were told!) digging up discrepancies and mistakes that we've made (urgh!).... some of us were called for interrogation (including me)...Eeeuuuuu... suspen giler!! Penat menjawab!! I am yet to get back to them on some problems related to autoclose..... urgh!! Tension betul! Not to forget some production problems and other issues that are making me nutssss this whole week!

To make things worst... hubby was attending a Petronas course (cum 2nd interview) in Shah Alam from Tuesday till Thursday... and later when he came back on Thursday evening... only to pack his things again.. to board a flight to Japan malam tu jugak!.. Leaving me with the kids again....... uwaaaaa... !!!

Izzat said "Ayah ni asyik kuar outstation je lah!"

Lagi tambah pening.. the kids' 3rd monthly test is next week... so memang busy giler lah this week!! Working on the new projects during working hours.. and doing revisions with the kids during night time. As usual, my boy is not making it easy for me... penat lah pujuk macam2.. upah or what-so-ever lah.. just to make him do some exercise and revision...

Last night, again Izzat was moody when I sent him to Kumon class. This time it was Ms Jaya herself who managed to coaxed Izzat to do his classwork. Later, after class I met Ms Harveen, their English teacher.. so I asked her on Izzat's latest progress...

"Ohhh... lots of improvement after I reduced his worksheet! He's quite good now..."
Alhamdulillah... boleh la senyum sket mama ni....

"But Izzaty is also having the same problem you know... she's quite playful now... "
Erkkk... oh tidakkkkkk.... tak abis2... sorang2 anakanda ku di complained.... will it ever stop???? When I focused on one kid... the other kid pulak yang buat hal.... Aiyooo.. ni baru 2 anak kan???
Urghhh.... I need a breakkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!

Crossing the Competency Bar

A few days ago, my manager called me and handed me the long-awaited 'Crossing the Competency Bar' letter from HR. Alhamdulillah.... I've now passed the 'checkpoint' competency bar and therefore will be eligible to get increment in the next few months... yeay!!! The good news is, all my colleages in the same section (under the same boss) who were in the same position, passed the competency bar as well... THANK YOU BOSS!!! We love you..... ahak!!! :D

But the bad news is... there were some unfortunate friends (from other sections) who did not manage to cross the competency bar. Either their bosses did not recommend them (tak sporting punya boss!!)... or may be HR rejected their applications due to their tardiness records in this financial year. Tak fair betul lah!! Coz I know... most of them work very hard and are good employees! Sabar la ya kengkawan.... Tentu ada hikmahnya. Allah knows what's best for us...

KanToi!!!

This morning, mommy sent Izzat to school. When we reached school, Izzat suddenly put his hand in his pocket and said....
"Alamak... lupa bawak duit belanja lah!".

This is weird... bibik never forget giving him duit belanja.

Me : Betul ke ni??

Izzat : Takde pun??! (hands still in his pocket).

I took my handphone and called home..

Izzat : Ma... can I go now?

Me: Kejap lah... nanti Izzat takde duit belanja....

Izzaty answered the call...

Me : Asked bibik if dia lupa bagi Izzat duit belanja please....

Bibik : Eh... dah bagi lah!!

And Izzat goes "Urrghhhhhh!!!!! Mama... Izzat cuma nak duit belanja banyak macam kawan Izzat...!!!'

Astaghfirullah-al-azim..... sanggup tipu mama pasal nak duit belanja lebih rupanya... !!
Ishhh.. rasa cam nak marah... tapi nak gelak pun ada jugak..... Izzat KanTOi!!!! kah kah! :D

Izzat dah GONGAK! :D

Yeah.... see the pic?? Glad to see the front tooth is finally tercabut... So now my 'lil hero is temporarily gongak lah.. until the permanent tooth comes out :D. The other front tooth is also longgar.... tunggu masa je la tu...

We decided not to go to Perodua's family day at Sunway Lagoon this Saturday as the kids are facing their monthly test next week. Have not start revision yet.. aiyoooo!! Have to work hard this weekend catching up with the revisions.... *sigh!*

Izzat's front tooth

Oh Boy!! One of my son's new front teeth is coming out... but the old one 'refused' to leave him :D We wanted to cabut the tooth... but he did not allow anyone to touch it... aiyooo!! He looks so funny with the tooth terkeluar ke depan like this....

This morning, the kids have 'class photo taking'. So I tell Izzat....

"Senyum jangan nampak gigi ye? Tak hensem nanti gambar!!" Hehe.

When I asked him... "cuba practise senyum sket??" He smiled laa for me..... with mulut tutup of course... but he let the 'longgar' tooth ke depan between his lips.... *LOL* He looks so funny!!! Jongang je nampak!!! Wanted to take a pic of him smiling like that but he ran away from me :D.

Jangan le senyum macam tu anak oiii.... or you will not want to see your class picture for the rest of your life!! *LOL!*

Family Day at Port Dickson

We had a greattttttttttt time in PD (despite hubby not going!!). Almost everyone was there! I brought Kak Yam's kuih seri muka and talam keladi for everyone. Tda cooked bihun and brought some nasi dagang... yummy!! Someone brought muffins, friend rice, ect.... pendek kata... there were lotssss of food for everyone!! The bungalows are awesome... (I think I'll book one of these bungalows again for my own family day one day!). The kids pulak tak sabar2 nak mandi at the beach. "What? Baru pukul 1 tengahari... panas lagi lah!!" And of course they gave me a long face.... tak puas hati lah tu! hehe.

In the evening, there was a telematch organised by Wardi and gang. The kids had fun participating in the telematch. They met old friends and made new friends... yang pentingnya... everyone had fun!! :) Later.... terjun laut time!!! Seronok diorang berendam... sampai sunset... baru naik ke darat!!! Tak pe lah... as long as they had fun! :) And I had a great time watching sunset while enjoying nasi dagang at the dinning area of one of the bungalows... :)

That night, we had BBQ at the bungalow's area. Yeap, makan time again.. yummy!!! Again... lots and lots of food!! But by then I was too tired to eat anything (kenyang pun ye jugak.. hehe). By 9pm, my Izzat was already exhausted... and mula lah.. "Ma.. jom la balik! Jom la balik...!". Aisay... tak larat la pulak nak dengar.. so, I decided to go back to Bkt Beruntung malam tu jugak... instead of staying in PD or menumpang at a friend's house in Seremban. The drive was okay... tapi peenatttttttt giler!!! Reached home around 11:15pm... alhamdulillah, semua selamat! :)

Everyone getting ready for telematch

First game - making 10 triangles out of straws and thread

Group kuning - paling ramai participants kanak2

Mommy and Izzat - Having fun! :D

The master mind of all these - our own boss, Encik Nazrin :)

BBQ, prize giving and karaoke time!!

Everyone in the pic! (except us... dah balik bukit beruntung daaa...!!!)

On Sunday, FIL called to invite us for lunch. So went to Cheras for lunch. Kak Eina and family were there too. Again, the kids had fun meeting their cousins. This morning, Izzat demam pulak (probably due to having too much fun?? hehe). So, MC lah that boy today... hubby sent to clinic this morning and hope he'll be okay by tonite...

Izzaty with Alea and Ilhan having fun at Nenek's house in Cheras

Kumon March result is out!

Tiring day!!! So much excitement at the office preparing for the PD trip. Boss was busy giving orders to all staff, not to forget our usual work routine... programming, programming and more programming! I had to attend a production problem on autoclose which is causing inflight in our GL this month - easy peasy! I've actually done it... but told my user that I need to study what's causing the problem first.... meaning.... boleh le 'ngelat' a bit.. hehe ;)

Friday is the usual Kumon day for the kids. Izzat is struggling a bit (may be a lot?) not only in English (which I think he's getting better now) but also in Maths. He is now doing multiplication for 4 digits... quite tough for a 6 years-old. But I think he'll manage.... I've been monitoring him for the past few days doing both maths and english kumon homeworks (after the call from Ms Harveen.. and not to forget... Ms Jaya's call!!)

Today.. Izzat came home smilingly (walaupun today's worksheet 9 salah!) and gave me an ASHR March booklet. Excitedly I scanned my kids name... alhamdulillah... Izzaty has maintained her gold level and Izzat his silver level... Err, he has touch the 100th worksheet of level C by June 30th.. but not sure if he is considered a gold student yet... doa2nya dapat lah kan?! Dapatla join Kak Long to Berjaya Times Square grand ceremony nanti... insyaAllah...

I also scan some familiar names like Danisyah (maintained her silver), Adam and Sara (wow! these 2 kids are really doing well!! Both are in bronze now.. but am sure will speed up fast to silver and gold soon), Hedzry (his first bronze), Hakeem & Ameerah (maintained silver) and others... Congratulation kids... I am so proud of all of you!! *muuahh!*

Izzat at 45th place in Kindergarten level (6th years old)

Izzaty at 91st place in Primary 3 level

I gotto go to sleep...*yawn!* Busy day tomorrow. Promised my boss to help 'basuh ayam' for the BBQ... arghhh!!! Pesal la jantan2 kat opis tu tak mau buat ek???? :(

Another day of a career mom...

My department wanted to organise a 'family day' at Maybank's Port Dickson bungalows. It sounds fun getting together and getting to know each others' family members... but as expected, hubby refused to go (how crude! I have never say 'no' to go to his family day... infact he never asked... he just used his veto power to make us all go! Sampai hati he refused to go to MY family day *sob*)... So I am a bit reluctant to join the others for this occasion. But my manager sweet talked me into going and I find it hard to say 'no' to him :( Okay lahhhhhhh I'll go!!!!!!!! I'll just have to go with my 2 kids... InsyaAllah..... *sabar je lah.. sigh!*

Last night, when I was just finishing my Maghrib prayer, I heard Rossa's Pudar coming from my handphone.. who could be calling me at this hour? Then I saw my kids' Kumon instructor's number flashing on my phone.... and I was like.. "Alamak! Which of my kids buat hal pulak nih??" Berdebar pulak nak jawab call Ms Jaya ni. Apparently it's Izzat yang buat hal. He was trying to escape his English reading season for the 2nd time and this time around was caught red handed. I don't really recall what Ms Jaya was saying.. but I remembered well when she said this...

Ms Jaya : Puan Runiza, if I caught him doing this again... I'll smack him!
*Gulp! Alamak... garangnya Ms Jaya ni.... nak pukul anak aku pulak!!*

Me : Err... no problem. (yea lah... what else can I say??)

Ms Jaya : Did you hear that Izzat? Your mother said 'no problem'! So if you do this again I'll smack you!!

And she goes on and on... (errr.... ni mama ke anak yang kena marah ni??? Terkedu sat mama!).

Anyway, served him right. Tak larat dah nak marah2 si Izzat ni... so cheeky!! Mama dah la balik lambat from office today.... penat pun belum hilang lagi ni... pening pulak tiba2 datang bila jawab Ms Jaya punya call tadi. So ingat bila dia balik from Kumon he'd be in a bad mood... but suprisingly, he gave me one big smile.

Me : Wassup Izzat? Izzat tak nangis ke kena marah tadi?

Izzat : Ada surat untuk mama... special from Kumon!
*Hah??? Surat??? Surat saman ke apa ni??*

Then he handed me an envelope.... ohhh.... gambar ASHR aritu rupanya.... :) Okay lah... mama pun dah boleh senyum now! :) But the headache remained.... too much in my head for today... - macam ni lah dilema ibu yang bekerja... *sigh!*

Nostalgia Rumah Pilah

This morning, my eldest sis, Along sent me an email with photos of 'the remaining' of our kampung house in Kuala Pilah.

Sedihnya tenguk gambar tu.... *sob*. Ye lah... I grew up in that house... that's the only 'home' I ever knew in my entire childhood and teenage life. I wish Ayah was still around... coz I miss the 'kampung life' and the excitement that we felt (especially during Raya) when we gathered at the familiar ground of our 'home'. My Izzat loved this Pilah house. Why Izzat? "Sebab banyak pintu.. best!!" :)

Now, there's no more rumah Pilah! :( No more 'home' to go 'balik kampung' for me :( What's left is just.... Pak Teh's house in Senaling.. MakLong Eda's house in the Pilah town.. and PakLong Eno's house in Kg Gontam.

Well... Germ and Zita offered their kampung houses... in case I feel the need to balik kampung in Pilah..... owwww..... thanks babes!! You guys are my bestest buddies!!!! *hugs*!

This is the remaining of the house where I grew up

Kat tangga ni lah I used to play with my other siblings and cousins

Ahh... I used to park my car here when I reached home.. and mak and ayah will rushed outside to sambut their kids yang balik kampung... and from outside we can smell the 'special food' prepared in the kitchen by beloved mak...

What will happen to all our rambutan trees??

During 'happy days'.... the last Eid Fitri we celebrated at our beloved house back in 2006

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A *knock* on my head!

Ms Harveen, my kids' Kumon English teacher SMSed to tell me that Izzat seemed to be struggling doing his english worksheet lately. Alamak.... ni yang tak syok ni!! This means mama has to spend moooooreeeee time with the kids.... monitoring them (especially Izzat) doing their homework and coaching them in their school revision. And that mean... less time for me to ngaji after Maghrib prayer :(

I myself have been very lazy lately to check the kids work.... *sigh!*. Penat je lately ni..... dunno why! Every morning, I had to drag myself out of bed.... so lazy to go to work :( No mood lah.... *sigh!*

Thanks for Ms Harveen..... your call is considered a 'knock' on my head.... so..... wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Start malam ni... I'm gonna strike again!!!! Watch out kids... your garang teacher is now back!!!