injured

the princess had an accident at school, 2 days after her 4th birthday.

not long after i finished teaching last tuesday, i received a call from her carer/teacher - she bumped her head with a cut on the forehead and was bleeding. luckily daddy was still on leave, so i got him to go the school immediately and of course she wanted mummy.. i had to make a few calls to get someone to replace my teaching before i got daddy to pick me up from work and off we drove to A&E at QMC.

she was very talkative and told the doctor everything, all by herself..

" i was carrying my pudding (it happened after they had lunch), then i tripped and banged my head on my friend, Anais's chair".

the doctor was friendly, explained to her about his magic torch and asked her " if you have a cut on your forehead, the blood came out, do you think your brain will come out too?" she said "No..of course not". nasib baik dia cakap macam tu and not "no, of course not, you silly doctor!!". 2 nurses cleaned and 'glued' the wound and she was ok throughout, sikit pun tak berbunyi. nurse puji kasut dia cantik (she was wearing her LK shoes); i told her to say 'thank you' and she added "its my birthday present". no water on the glued part for 5 days, so we couldnt wash her hair for 5 days, mandi just up to shoulder sahaja.

she'a all well and good, her carer rianne called me later in the afternoon to ask about her. the next day terus pergi sekolah and cerita kat kawan2. lekat parut lah pulak atas dahi, jangan ada yang mintak discount cukup laaaa haha!!

princess is 4..

theme for her 4th birthday is 'princess'..semua benda nak princess and pink. she likes Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) the most, just because Aurora wears a pink dress!

birthday girl in Aurora/Sleeping Beauty dress..

table cloth, paper plates, plastic cups, serviettes all have to be 'Princess' theme

sila..sila..

Eva & Scott came from Leicester..

Aisyah and her school friend Renad who lives just across the street from us

Aliyah and her new found friend, 6 y.o Rukyah, Renad's little sister..

its my birthday..

she woke me up at 6.30 this morning and said 'its my birthday today mummy, i'm 4..can i open my presents now?'.. i asked her if she could wait till a bit later; but she said"its my birthday and i want to open my present now.." ni macam lagu "its my party and i cry if i want to...". and who dares to say NO to a princess..murka nanti!

yesterday her aunty ina (her bff's mom) came at lunch time - aunty ina is here just for a week without atan; and the present that aunty ina ordered online arrived while she's at our house and princess got to open the box before her birthday..in it is a princess castle, just like what she wanted.

this morning, she opened the presents from aunty gill (which gill brought with her when she came in mid december) and lauren

below: one of the 3 gifts from gill..

and asked if she could wear the lelli kelly shoes aunty yan bought her (well actually aunty yan gave some money for mummy to buy the present). she's been wanting LK shoes for a year now, each time the advert came on tv, she would say "i want that.." and them shoes are not cheap. kasut mummy jauh murah, like half the price of LK shoes. after browsing so many websites, i managed to get one in her size and reasonably priced at £35 incl postage..the shoes came 2 weeks ago but she wasnt allowed to wear it until her birthday and she waited patiently..

mummy & daddy bought her the princess art desk from toysrus 2 weeks ago, but she waited until today to open the box. kira boleh tahan jugak la tahap kesabaran dia ..

by 10am, i was in the kitchen baking vanilla cupcakes (in pink cases decorated with pink icing and pink sprinkles) and chocolate fudge cupcakes and victoria sandwich birthday cake (icing turned out to be a bit disastrous but it taste nice anyway..so who cares!) ..around 1.00pm buat inti popiah followed by kuaytiaw goreng. kamar went out to buy nuggets and party food which went into the oven for 20 minutes.

kamar's niece raudhah came from sheffield, the other guests arrived at 3pm, mimi bawak pulut kuning & sambal sotong (her mom yang buat) and eva brought samosa.. senang aja menu nya, tak payah nak banyak2 hal.

mula2 berangan nak buat trifle and konnyoku jelly tapi tak kesampaian. we also invited aisyah's friends - lauren, emma and renad but lauren had to go to scotland to attend a funeral, emma had to go into hospital on friday nite, renad came with her sister rukyah. aliyah's nursery friends are too young to invite to the house and i'm not sure if i could handle so many young children. tunggu lah next year when she's 5, then she can invite her school friends. tetamu left at 7pm, no door gift but with doggy bags. pix in the next post.

cuti..cuti..cuti..

malaya land memang terkenal dengan negara yang banyak public holidays; berapa hari je yang kerja ni, asyik cuti aja...(tonasi orang jeles).

today selangor cuti sebab thaipusam; 1st feb KL pulak cuti hari wilayah (dont know why la nak cuti hari wilayah); on 3&4th feb cuti chinese new year pulak..so basically most people who work in KL will take monday & wednesday off and get 9 days leave from saturday to sunday.. not surprised if some offices ask the staff to take compulsory leave and close the office all week - jimat utility bills. after all, the staff will be on 'holiday mood' on monday & dont really bother doing any work at all..been there, done that haha..

over here, we only get 8 days public holiday a year. our last public holiday was on 1st jan and the next one coming is in april - good friday (22/4) till easter monday (25/4)..most likely on 29/4 queen will declare holiday so that rakyat jelata boleh tengok wedding william & kate on telly. on monday 2/5 sememang nya cuti may day, so dapat lah long weekend. pandai william pilih wedding date dia so that rakyat jelata boleh cuti panjang.

apa2 pun, someone in this household will have a few days break from work starting from tomorrow till wednesday nx week, gara2 kena habiskan cuti last year before end of january. he still have to wake up early though, to drive the kids to school at 8am but then he will have the house & tv to himself while little missy is at school. and of cos i'm hoping he will cook dinners.

next week, we are expecting our first guests of 2011.. she will not be staying with us; much to my dissapointment; but i have invited her & co to dine at our place and maybe take them walking at peak district on saturday, weather permitting. looking forward to see her again after 5 years...

quiet sunday

this morning i baked choc chip muffins, recipe from mary berry 100 cakes and bakes...my other half went to the butcher to get chicken and beef; stopped at kfc on the way home and bought our lunch.

after a heavy lunch followed by muffin with fresh vanilla custard;

i decided to go for a walk in the park - all alone. i left at 12.45 and got back home at 2pm. its like a ritual for people here to go for walks after sunday lunch. so, despite not so good weather -cloudy and windy, there are quite a number of people at the park.

typical scene of our neighbourhood on sundays..people tend to stay in to keep warm, read and watch tv - thats what my other half and the girls were doing.

very few cars on the main road...

our street is so quiet ...

simply irresistible

simple and yet irresistible..thats the theme for tonite's dinner.

we went out in the afternoon to get few bits and bobs for princess's birthday do next weekend. on the way home, teringat nak makan keropok lekor - gara2 aisyah makan baked potato with tuna mayo topping which somehow smell like keropok lekor goreng. it wasnt just me, kamar said the same too; and discussion led to our dinner menu - nasi goreng kampong with ikan masin & sambal belacan & keropok goreng.

we stopped at sainsbury's to get some groceries & i saw this book..

Mary Berry is the baking guru and was one of the judges for British Bake Off competition shown on tv last year. this could be my 7th or 8th baking book. the collection is not complete without Mary's book. i'm going to bake her Divine Choc Birthday Cake for next weekend's do.. bought a nice princess cake topper and princess candles from Lakeland...watch this space..

shopping spree

yesterday, we went for a shopping spree. kalau sebut pasal shopping spree, orang mesti ingat we might have gone to the shopping malls or designer shops like most shoppers kan?

we dont really fall under the category of shopaholics because firstly, we dont have much 'extras' to spend on unnecessary/non essential stuff let alone designer shoes, handbags or outfit; secondly, kamar & the kids dont like to go to the shops; thirdly i can be quite thrifty (or frugal - the term used by my friend oya). spending more than £20 on one item dah kira mahal..

let me tell you the 'wan family's version of shopping spree..

first stop, big missy's shopping heaven..

kat situ jual everything to do with indoor and outdoor sports and recreation, from tread mills to tents to fishing gear etc. big missy needed a new riding hat because kepala dah besar..there was a notice that says "REPLACE YOUR HAT AFTER A FALL". hmmm... big missy had fallen about 11 times over a span of 5 years and yet this is her 2nd hat! she also wanted a longer crop, despite getting a nice crop from lauren at xmas. and she needed a new pair of boots. she's a size 5 1/2 now, her last pair was a size 4 which we bought last year.

we also bought the little missy a pair of walking shoes and an outdoor jacket for spring wear. and mummy bought a nice & warm green fleece jacket, ready for the spring break in scotland..

second stop.. little missy's shopping heaven.

few days ago she told me that she wanted a Princess Aurora (sleeping beauty) dress and a toy castle for her birthday. okayyy.. so we found the dress that she wanted, a good deal i think because for £16, we get 2 dresses in 1. its reversible - one side is Sleeping Beauty and the other side is Snow White. senyum!!

then came the choice of birthday present; either a princess tent or a princess art desk. i managed to 'corner' her into choosing the art desk because she already has a tent on her 2nd birthday.

last stop - Sainsbury's; mummy & daddy's shopping heaven for weekly grocery shopping. kids browsed at the toys and magazine section while mom & dad filled the trolley with food and other household stuff.

and everybody came home happy!!

once, twice, three times...

you'd probably thought its the lyric from Commodores/Lionel Richie song..no..all of you got that wrong

its once, twice, three times...bitten but never shy. thats the way it should be.

searching for true love is hard, kalau tak sebab tu, tak kan lah i kawin lambat!! you might have broken a few hearts here and there or you could be the one who's broken hearted. but HE's always there to guide you, have faith in HIM, its just a matter of time. i lived by that principle and it worked for me; been there.. done that...

my heart goes to both of you. life is all about making choices and sacrifices and who would know it better than yourselves. doakan yang terbaik, Insyaallah.

somehow this time, my instinct tells me that this is for real..

by the way, kudos to tukang buat 'barang2 hantaran' (if i'm allowed to call them that). cantik dulang tu, berbaloi lah pergi mencari jauh2 sampai ke Nilai! i know you wont settle for anything less.

2011 line-up

when new year comes, most people come up with the list of resolutions..i stopped having NY resolutions years and years ago cos i know myself better - i dont believe in such things; as much as i dont believe in santa claus and tooth fairy!

NY resolutions aside, i have listed things which need to be done ..

1. siapkan the long overdue portfolio by march; to wrap up post grad cert in HE. kononnya berangan nak buat masters in HE lepas habis MSc in Project Mgmt nanti... berangan je dulu, see what happens when reality kicks in.

2. completing MSc in Project Management, dengan cita2 yang tinggi to graduate in july this year. kalau tak sempat, the latest in november graduate Insyaallah...but the road to graduation is not without any hard work - nak kena siapkan dissertation (yang belum start apa2 pun lagi) by april and one last module to do - project planning.

3. maintain (if not improve) my teaching techniques and also meet/achieve the feedback turnround time; all for students satisfaction. alhamdulillah last term, after 5 yrs of teaching, i received good feedback and recognition from the students. the good news put a big smile on my face and boost my confidence. it matters a lot to me even tho tak dapat bonus or increment for the achievement..yang penting, personal satisfaction..

4. looking into possibility of co-writing reference book with Roger, the retired measurement guru. Roger finally retired at the age of 70 due to health problem, not long before i joined uni. he is still keeping well and enjoying his retirement. Roger and the late Ivor Seeley co-wrote Building Quantities Explained; 5th edition was published in 1998. yesterday Roy (a senior prof and my dissertation supervisor) asked if i'm interested to work with Roger to revise the book. its hard work, i know..some students in the past asked me why didnt i write a book on this subject..see lah how. i'm not doing it for the money cos the money is not that good anyway; its more for recognition.

yang lain2 tu more of personal/family stuff .. Insyaallah kalau dapat, tuhan kata itu rezeki kami, kalau tak dapat, tu mesti tuhan kata bukan rezeki kami dan kami terima se-ada nya..

2011 guests line up pun dah ada jugak. we are looking forward to seeing our close family members this year. nanti nak kena buat 'room availability chart' macam B&B website tu kan !!

holiday line up pun dah ada dalam kepala ni...

the upcoming holiday will be in april during the easter break. tu dah plan awal2, accommodation pun dah booked and bayar 20% in november 2010. after easter break, back to work in 3rd term which is a short term of 5 weeks only. 2010/2011 teaching finishes in mid may which coincides with the school mid term break. kalau ada rezeki, boleh la pegi cuti2 sekejap; maybe menyambut jemputan Franca in Turino??

xmas 2010

our (mine & kamar's) xmas break started on monday 20/12 and we're off for 2 weeks, resume work on 4/1. dah seronok duduk rumah, sure liat nak start kerja next week.

this year's xmas break tak kemana mana due to adverse weather and we spent most days at home or entertaining our last guests of 2010 (in another post).

on xmas morning the kids opened their presents yang banyak sesangat this year...little missy was so excited..

kamar made traditional xmas lunch - 4kg turkey with 2 types of stuffing, honey roasted parsnip and carrots, roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, beans etc.

for dessert i made trifle using strawberry swiss roll, fruit cocktail, Nona strawberry jelly crystal and one last special ingredient - Asda fresh custard; ini semua gara2 influenced by my colleague Andy who said Asda's custard is soooo creamy, kalah custard from Waitrose, M&S, Tesco or Sainsbury's. and he was right!!