shop/glam-ping

murni and her mom were our weekend guests last saturday. we met up in the city - summer sale started on saturday; i went out with kakak and syila in mid morning, tinggalkan the kids with their daddy. John Lewis had quite a good sale and i bought Emma Bridgewater polka dot tote bag which i've been eyeing for so long. the price was reduced by 50% from £25. also bought lots of pillow cases which were selling at £1 from original price of more than £10 each. lepas pegi JL, pegi pulak ke ZARA. damage lagi but not for my kids, bought tshirts for my cousins' kids.macamana tak mabuk when each costs £2-£3. but then the sale at ladies department is dissapointing, unlike last year. opposite ZARA ada pulak Crabtree & Evelyn, ada 40% off and cudnt resist buying a toiletry bag plus shower gel & hand lotion for my bestest friend. dah penat berjalan sampai 4pm, rombongan cik kiah balik.

for dinner we decided to have BBQ - the last time at this house before we move to our new pad this weekend. i baked princesses cup cakes, beli ready mix box complete with deco.

sayangggg kak syila...

gediksss hahaha....

who's the tallest? soon aisyah is going to beat them both and she's not even 11 yet..

at night the 3 girls glam-camped in the garden. GLAM CAMP = GLAMOROUS CAMPING, basically tent or camps complete with shower, fridge, tv, air cond. but our version of glam camp lain pulak. the girls brought their own laptops into the tent - tengok movie, chatting/fb-ing, main game. nak gi toilet still kena masuk dalam rumah..

the next day, the girls had alfresco breakfast. after that we took our guests to car boot sale. memang meriah barang2 yang ada last sunday, i ended up spending £15 on lots & lots of things - books, toys, kids fancy costumes.. as usual, try beli brg2 yg wont cost more than £2 per item.

aliyah was stunned when we brought home this Fifi set..

kakak prepared nasi lemak for all day dining. lepas makan, pergi pulak walking at Wollaton Park, ada Armed Forces weekend. we must have walked quite a bit sampai murni's mom penat..

then we had picnic dinner - nasi lemak (again...) at the back garden. and malam baru hantar dia orang balik. it was an enjoyable weekend indeed.

menjamu tetamu

bila dah tinggal jauh dari tanah air ni kan, memang seronok kalau ada tetamu yang sudi datang menziarah/singgah walaupun rumah kami ni kecik.. memang la we live in a bungalow - tak de makna nya sebab the term bungalow refers to single storey detached house, tak kira kecik atau besar.. lagi pulak ni rumah sewa je..kalau kat malaya nun, bungalow tu detached double storey house sebesar hendak ala2 villa gitu.

we always welcome visits by close friends or relatives - mind you bukan yang jenis sekali sepanjang 2-3 tahun/seumur hidup baru nak bertanya kabar yaa...bak kata my aunty jackie - "ooh i'm Nik (my uncle living in london)'s friend's nephew's second cousin bla bla bla..." semata mata nak free accommodation bila datang holiday ke kota londeng. walhal selama ni bercerita bukan2 behind them, let alone nak tanya kabar dia orang. yeah we may sound selfish but that really happened ..i just cannot tahan opportunists. but anyway, back to my cerita...

on tuesday, we invited our friend murni & her mom who's here on holiday to our place for dinner. kakak made soto makan dengan nasi impit and pegedil and murni & mom bawak lontong goreng, a singaporean dish - nasi impit goreng dengan minced meat & eggs. sedappp..

on wednesday we received more guests from msia - sisters of my longtime friend Ti, came with their family members. Ti & i became friends when we were coursemates and dormmates in itm from 1980-83. then we met again in mid 80s when we did our degree in scotland, she was in edinburgh while i was in glasgow..and we never failed to keep in touch after we graduated.

glad that the weather was good so we served dinner at the back garden. makan pun simple2 aja - pizza, breaded onion rings, breaded scampi, chips, nuggets, chinese fried rice and cupcakes, menu macam children's birthday party la pulak. it was good to see them again after more than 20 years.

all food except cuppies & fried rice, came from tesco freezer ...harap2 jangan la dia orang complain bila balik msia sebab we all jamu snacks aja and not 'proper dinner by msians standard' ..

thanks Aunty Aini, Ti, Yah & Mah for all the goodies from msia.. we hope to see Ti here someday.. and we'll be seeing more of aunty aini this weekend. dah ajak murni & her mom to stay over the weekend, nak bawak pergi jalan2 at wollaton park petang esok and sunday to carboot sale...

you jump, i jump..

sapa yang boleh lupa THE dialogue between kate winslet & leonardo dicaprio in the blockbuster movie years ago.

aisyah & her classmates have been practising playing the 'Titanic' song on the flute for months, just for a short performance to the parents & the whole school (total of 165 children) yesterday. mula2 mummy was skeptical bila anak kata she would be playing THE song but they surprised me. it was beautifully played; i'm glad i went..hajat hati nak letak the video tapi punya lah lama nak upload cos it was almost 2 minutes long.

she started playing the flute last year and had performed at Albert Hall (bukan tempat CT menyanyi tu.. but the one at our city centre) along with kids from other schools. this is a programme organised by the city council & Nottingham Music School to encourage school kids play musical instruments.

her best friend lauren played the guitar...tengok la gitar dia..pink kaler gitu

hope both of them will be given more opportunity when they go to secondary school in september.

Happy Dad's Day

yesterday was Father's Day, no special celebration. i made breakfast which is normally kamar's weekend duty. then we were off to Trowell Car Boot; £20 = dapat banyaaakkkk barang.. was really chuffed with my shopping spree. bought cycling helmets - 1 for kenit & 1 for my niece @£2 each, children story books, playdough with a bag full of moulds, toy box, tea/coffee caddy etc etc...

when we got home, prepared lunch - kamar made ginger beef, terung & okra goreng with bilis and i made thai fish cake.

kamar holding the lollipop balloon while shallow frying thai fish cakes

at around 4.30, ajak kamar pegi walking at Dale Abbey, about 15 minutes drive from home. last month dah pergi tapi tak jumpa Hermit's Cave walhal dekat aja from the abbey ruins.

the abbey was dissolved in 1538 and demolished by demand of Henry VIII.

Hermit's Wood ni ada cerita sebenarnya. the cave was excavated around 1130 by a Derby baker who had a vision to worship God at Depedale (old name for Dale Abbey). he lived in the cave for 20 years (hence known as 'hermit') before he moved down the hill and built the chapel which was the beginning of Dale Abbey Church. read www.derbyshire-peakdistrict.co.uk/daleabbey.htm

All Saints Church, Dale Abbey; with a farmhouse attached behind it.

mcm cerita PRamlee ..hey mambang kuning, mambang hijau, mambang merah...

walked on the 'lalang' field

we got back home at 6.30, rest and of course ironing night for me..

switching channels

ini lah yang dikatakan tak senang duduk...

Kamar secretly captured me watching England vs Algeria, into the first 5 minutes of the game.. tak nak tengok, rasa nak tengok tapi bila tengok, rasa tension giler sebab England played badly, banyak sangat missed opportunities. Aisyah said "mummy was getting excited about football..a bit over the top" ..

half way into second half, i switched channel to watch Glee season finale.. the kids from Glee Club sang To Sir With Love and Mr Shu sang Over The Rainbow with the ukelele brilliantly. by the time Glee finished, game ended with 0-0... then tengok my favourite man on telly - Simon Baker @ Patrick Jane of The Mentalist. kalau England tak menang jugak dengan Slovenia on 23rd June, thats the end of England's journey in World Cup 2010.

colours & moods of the day

hari ni working (marking) at home ... tapi productivity ada kurang sikit. sebabnya - its such a sunny day and what a waste to be working inside the house !!

this morning si kenit while sitting on my laps, with liuk lintuk nya asked "mummy, can you NOT go to office and work at home today, pleaaassseeee...". how can you say no to that? but with a condition.. if she throws tantrum like yesterday, mummy will go to the office..tapi sebenarnya mummy memang working at home pun for the rest of the week.

started work at 11am with few breaks in between, managed to mark about 8 scripts and finished at 3pm and phoned my longtime friend Sally, chatted for almost an hour. macam2 cerita keluar - pasal masak, tent & picnic table (her kids suruh beli tent & table like ours hehe!!), old friends and of course perihal anak2. nak tengok Spain vs Switzerland but daytime telly is conquered by the little missy. missed a good game - swiss won 1-0!

nice sunny day and i captured all the different summer colours

this is our indoor hibiscus

from front & back garden

also pics of our very own model in different moods.

natural...

nice smile to compensate for hidung yang 'cute' tapi still boleh sangkut 2 sunnies !!!

bad mood - was scared of 2 bees lingering on the grass..

muncung mood... time to go back into the house before she start screaming!!

cotton wools

in the sky...

these were taken last nite at around 7.30pm before Brazil v North Korea kick off.. kamar is not really a footie fan but last nite, he sat throughout the game because Brazil was playing and supposed to be one of the strong teams but North Korea's defence was really good. the game ended with brazil won 2-1, good defeat for NK though..kalau brazil kalah kan malu....

serenity

on friday, after spending 6 hours at the library, i asked kamar to accompany me brisk walking at our usual park.. and we did more than 2 miles round trip.

lily pads...

curious?

the park was unusually quiet - most people were glued to the telly watching World Cup South Africa 2010 Kick Off Party

what a weekend!

yesterday morning i sat for risk management & procurement strategy exam.. it was ok, nak pass tu InsyaAllah boleh but i was aiming for better than just ok.. now thats over, i have one last module to do - project planning; coursework & exam in march next year. meanwhile, i'm starting on the dissertation.

last nite raudah & syila arrived from sheffield & aberdeen respectively; i met them at the train station and we went to murni's flat at lace market, had dinner and watched world cup - England v USA. funny how friendship is formed. syila's sister, syida is a close friend of murni's sister, izan. syila met raudah at our place in january and they have a mutual friend - raudah's housemate. i took murni to sheffield & introduced her to raudah in march. so now all the 3 of them are good friends.

murni's strawberry cheese cupcakes.. yummy!! last time she came, she brought oreo cupcakes...

we were thinking of few places to go to spend sunday. the original plan was to visit sophie (gill's daughter) & her family at Chatsworth but something came up and they had to cancel the plan. having checked the weather forecast, derbyshire is not looking good today so i suggested to kamar that we go cycling at Clumber Park. we went there last month but only kamar & aisyah cycled while i took aliyah to the woodland children playground and it rained heavily at around 4pm that we had to leave the place. so this time around, all of us (except kakak) rent the bike for 2 hours and cycled for 8 miles on The Northern Fringe. kakak spent her time reading at the lakeside.

at the lime tree avenue - we met an elderly couple who came from Blackpool and the husband took this pic

my bike rosak half way..nasib baik ada mechanic tak bertauliah..kalau tak terpaksa lah seret the bike all the way back to cycle hire.

have a break..have a bottle of susu !!

considering i havent cycled since leaving school, not bad for an old bird..and my legs are aching all over !! balik rumah, dah penat ..menjamu selera dengan nasi lemak & lepas tu belajar buat kuih bakar (bingka) jagung dengan raudhah, bakar dalam sandwich & muffin tray.. sedap!!.