indian summer

its autumn, its end of september and yet the temperature soars up to mid-high 20s since monday and shall continue till next week.

yesterday i was working in starbucks which was more like a sauna especially at 11am. i opened all windows and double doors, no breeze, air was so still. it was worse than mid summer. the longest i could sit there at any one time was 2 hours or i would be 'rentung'. i shouldnt complain though.

little missy was asked to bring her sun hat to school. when i picked her up at 3.30pm, cardigan dah simpan dalam book bag, polo shirt dah terkeluar from skirt, socks dah terlondeh..and she said "mummy, why is the sun so hot? i dont like it hot, i like it when its cold". aiyooo.. balik malaya lah adik kalau nak tahu macamana rasanya panas. dah sampai rumah, her face was red. big missy pun sama;  tie kemana, jumper kemana. i think if she had a choice, she would have removed her tights soon as she's out of the schoolgate.

sponge (bob) brain

i have an exam on saturday, my last paper for the entire programme which i started in 2009/10. i dont have a clue what to write come saturday. in the past, i somehow knew what i was going to scribble but this time its just ridiculously impossible. its a seen paper, we got the questions last friday but i never got round to start any revision - what with preparing for induction and the new term. i escaped from work place to stay at home on thursday & friday, trying to absorb whatever i can. 

they say "child's brain is like a sponge, capable to absorb enormous amount of information and as we grow older, brain power tends to decrease" and in my case, becomes like Sponge Bob!

at times like this,  the burning question is - what the heck am i doing? at this age? what am i trying to prove?

if its not for this one last paper, i would have given up..honestly!!

the real thing

let me show you what real fish n chips look like..this is the real thing ya cik mira, not the breaded stuff that you had at Monte's which you said "wasnt as good as i remember it".  dont be offended lah darling cos i'm sure you must have paid quite a bit for it kan? what matters is you guys had a good nite out for the kids birthday.

we love the fish from our neighbourhood fish bar/chippy joint near the big park, some said its the best fish place in notts. its opened from 6pm and on Friday evening, if you are not lucky then you will have to join the long Q. friday is fish day, asal usulnya the christians refrain from eating meat on fridays. we just join the crowd haha..

 the fish are huge and the chips are aplenty, and we usually buy 2 portions for the whole family. if you are wondering what the green stuff in the bowl, thats mushy peas - a must have!

nothing can beat the original greasy fish n chips wrapped in newspapers like those days (like 20 odd years ago??). sekarang tak boleh wrap in newspapers due to the ink, kena adhere to health & safety regulation. so the next best thing is to wrap in the cheap white wrapping papers..

makan time..

on Saturday petang while we were thinking what to have for dinner, kamar's cousin Chah called to ask  if we wanted to join her & her kids for dinner. so timely kan? thats what you call rezeki. jazeman fancied some indian food so i recommended Mem Saab in the city. we've only dined out several times, never been to mem saab  but we read few good reviews.  when we arrived at 7pm, the place was only a quarter full but an hour later, it was packed. nasib baik buat reservation.

food & service was good, makanan penuh meja and dinner table conversation was hilarious..aunty chah & kak jaz taught aliyah modern day "nursery rhymes" of kfc, pizza hut, mcdonalds and duck rice! we left at 8.30 with full stomach, kenyang sampai pagi!!

thanks chah for the lovely dinner

homework time...

dah puas relax & enjoy on saturday & sunday, tiba lah masanya untuk siapkan homework...

dah 2 weeks into school, adik did quite well with her reading. at the end of the week bawak balik certificate. Alhamdulillah..

1st day of autumn 2011

yesterday (well, i'm writing this at 12.45am on 24/9), the 23rd Sept marked the first day of autumn 2011. hmm..i know 2 people whose birthday fall on 23/9 but dont want to mention names here lah, nanti habis keluar segala skeletons from the closet.

looks like we are having prolonged summery days even tho summer itself wasnt great. for the past & next few days, temp is still on the high teens infact wednesday coming, temperature is going to soar up to 26 deg C, mcm mid summer pulak so stop complaining and start feeling grateful folks! too bad next weekend i've got an exam to do, otherwise sure dah ajak encik suami bawak anak2 pergi walking at any National Trust parks.

and yesterday, en suami's cousin Chah came over with  her children Jaz & Man and Bruce,  his coach. actually Man has a race at Donington Park this weekend which he set the fastest time in the pre-race practice on Thursday. so since they didnt have any plan & Man was free, we invited them over for hi-tea sampai dinner. it was great that they finally made it to our humble place, dah lama dah ajak tapi tak berkesampaian. the big kids had fun playing on the tarzan swing under the willow tree and also jumping on the trampoline,  lebih kurang macam budak bandar datang kampong.

then ina came with atan as well, bawak one full bag of apples from the trees in their garden and rocket salad from their mini kebun.  i cooked baby beef stew and season & shake mediterranean chicken, ina made salad and we had them with pilau rice, dinner rolls and farmhouse bread. ina also brought freshly pressed homemade apple juice;  i think the apples from her garden are the pink ladies sebab juice tu colour pink.

the little kids memang lah enjoy habis playing together,lama2 main bergaduh kejap then baik balik but they never had enough of each other.  

we're truly blessed .. Alhamdulillah ada close friends and relatives yang nak jenguk kami disini.

goodbye & hello

thats where we were last friday petang till 8pm, we were their last customers.

pic below was taken this morning. it was sad to part with the Alhambra which had been  faithful to us for almost 3 yrs. there wasnt anything majorly wrong with it, just the normal wear & tear. it took us (& our guests) everywhere, practically the whole of England, Scotland & Wales. for a 10 year old people carrier, it was brilliant - roomy and reliable but it was getting a bit expensive to maintain.

after spending 2 hours at a big car dealer outside Notts and much thots & calculation, we decided on this one. it was a major decision & big deal to us even tho bukan nya beli Be-em-dabalieu or Mechedis. and one thing for sure, we HAVE to get a 7 seater, no two ways about it. kalau nak 'jual ikan' we could have bought  the 5 Seater Landrover Discovery but unfortunately we are not fishmongers. 

to our ayah cik & cik zah, nx time u come, kita kena letak roof rack sbb bootnya tidak lah sebesar the previous car; otherwise u all kena meriba all your barang2 shopping.

country road...

take me home
to the place
i belong

yesterday, we decided to take the country road back to notts from m'ter.  it was more scenic than going on the motorway and took only 15 minutes longer

we drove on A6, passed by High Peak, Buxworth, Chapel en-le- Firth, then on A623 to Baslow and Chesterfield where we stopped at McD for lunch & ate at the carpark cos the place was packed; then hit M1 at Junction 29 all the way to J26.

 below: High Peak in Derbyshire

 on A 623, near the junction to Eyam

till we meet again

kakak @ the kids' aunty yan flew back to msia yesterday morning after 3 weeks holiday with us. she enjoyed herself  & fulfilled the reasons for what she came here for - celebrating raya & big missy's belated birthday do and seeing little missy on her first day of school.

insyaallah panjang umur, murah rezeki we'll meet again..

now i'm back to my normal duties - laundry, cleaning, hoovering and school runs..the kitchen & bathroom will not be as clean and tidy like the past 3 weeks! 

then & now

same spot..4 years on

we were at Atan's 5th birthday party this afternoon and i remember taking a shot of little missy at the side of  Main House (pic above) when we went to Atan's first birthday party.

is it pure coincidence that the birthday boy and his mama wore red at the same occassion 4 yrs apart?

double celebration

this is a delayed entry..

i had a good double celebration - 48th birthday (yup.. and my little missy said "you are old mummy"..thanks a lot!!) and 13th wedding anniversary; albeit simple but meaningful. encik suami obliged to my request for a walk at peak district and a nite at the movies - thats all that i asked for, no bling2 or designer handbag for a present.

we left at 9.30am on Saturday, arrived at Ilam 45 minutes later. walked 6 miles from Dovedale to Milldale and back and left Ilam at 3.30pm. we had a good time, all to ourselves minus the kids who stayed at home & looked after by their aunty. been a while since we last went out as a duo. selfish as it sounds but we need that break.

Stepping Stones, Dovedale

1 1/2 hours and 3 miles later, we got to Milldale

 at the bottom of Thorpe Cloud, Dovedale

on Monday nite, mr hubba hubba took me out to showcase cinema to see One Day, a movie adapted from David Nichols best selling book of the same title. both of us enjoyed it, despite its not really encik suami's cuppa tea. i started reading the book on Tuesday morning but i reckon the book is better than the movie; will write more on One Day in another post.

slumber-land

what has become of our living room?

 thats what happened when we play host to 6 + 1 screaming 12 year olds and one 4 1/2 y.o. who just wants to join the big girls..

we let big missy invite 6 of her close friends from school for a sleep over to celebrate her 12th bday. nasib baik sekali setahun aja, but despite their becokness, the girls are well behaved.  the parents (either mom or dad) datang hantar siap dengan bin bag penuh with bantal, selimut, snacks..i made choc cake & we bought kfc & dominos pizza & let them have the living room to themselves for the nite, gabbing away, main mekap2 & watch dvds. to them, "camping out in the living room" is cool

tak tau lah pukul berapa depa tidor malam ni..when they were at lauren's 12th bday, they were up till 3am..

mummy vs mom

conversation with little missy this morning, on the way to school

little missy:  "mummy, can i call u mom?".
mummy : "why do you want to call me mom?"
little missy : "because anna (her friend fr preschool who's now her classmate) calls her mom..mom"
mummy: "i guess its ok" (for as long as she doesnt call me by my name!)

sorted..sort of

i'm back to work full time after the long summer holidays yang tak berapa eventful and bermalas-malasan. sepanjang cuti 5 weeks,  i didnt even open my work e-mail sampaikan password pun boleh lupa on that first day back.

the kids are back to school and our routine is kind of in place. while my SIL is here for another week, she will do the school run with little missy. my teaching schedule is more or less fixed, so boleh lah buat timetable who's doing the school run pagi & petang after aunty yan balik nanti.  regulation kat sini, kakak2/abang2 have to be 14 and above baru boleh ambik  their little sisters/brothers from infant/junior  school.  so we have a slight problem there. but i kind of get it sorted and hopefully tak ada hiccup. this is our main problem being away from home, tak ada extended family member or bibik to help out with afterschool childcare. tu tak kira bila mid term break lagi. kalau kerja kat office ok lah jugak boleh ambik cuti jaga anak but with my kind of job, mana boleh nak cuti sebarangan. we'll sort it out somehow, Insyaallah.

survived first day

i woke her up at 7.30am, no tears, no fuss as she was so excited to go to Big school.

on her first day, we were asked to bring her to her classroom at 9.20am. each child is allocated a specific arrival time so that the earlier kids are settled in before the next one  arrives; that seems systematic to me.

daddy asked her teacher whether we could take a pic..sebenarnya daddy nak ambik gambar cikgu cun !!

 i guess daddy wouldnt mind doing the school runs every day,.

for the first 5 days, kids finish school at 1.15pm (after lunch). i called home at 1.45pm but she refused to speak to me - she was busy 'reading' the book her teacher gave. when i got home from work, she showed me the picture book about library, but without any word.  she's supposed to make up her own story line and tell the teacher tomorrow.

she ate her packed lunch - chicken & cheese sandwiches, cheese rocket biscuits, strawbery flakes, strawberry smoothie & ribena, she said she was too full to eat the banana. selalunya liat sikit nak makan but lately she's been a good eater. mummy's role as makcik kantin started this morning...

Burghley Horse Trials 2011

 As a treat for Aisyah who has been wanting to go see a horse event ever since we came here, we had Aunty Ina book tickets for us to see the cross country event at the Burghley Horse Trials.

The event is hosted yearly at the Burghley Estate. See http://www.burghley-horse.co.uk/default.asp.

The map on the left shows the cross country course - quite a long way. Aisyah wanted to walk the route to see all the jumps. We managed about a bit mote than 3/4 of the whole route before the event finished.

It was interesting and I have to say I never saw so many rich people gathered in one place before.

They also had pavillions set up for all the horsey and country shops. The things are not cheap as they are known brands.

All in, we had a good time. Doodlemom, Anuties Yan and Ina only managed to see three horses and spent the rest of the time at the pavillions.

They also had Land Rovers on display.