Graduation Day

At long last after many years some one finally completed her Masters MSc Project Management (Construction) - Pass with Commendation.

Heartiest congratulations on completing it and may you rest for a couple of years before deciding to continue your PhD.

At last...

After 7 years of  blood, sweat and lots & lots of tears, i finally did it! Alhamdulillah..
 

No words can describe my gratitude to my better half/pillar of strength/driving force/ saviour/proof reader/editor who helped me get through the hardtimes..and also to my 2 girls for their moral support, hugs and understanding..

 

thanks to my siblings, extended family members & friends for the encouragement & wishes; especially to my  mom & sis in law for their tireless du'a and believing in me more than I believe in myself. my mom was so relieved that I finally finished and passed the course.  And of course to my bff  who cheered me up  when i was feeling down and congratulated me with "i told you!!"

 

some people may say, whats the big deal (orang lain pun buat masters jugak ek eleh) ..well, it is a big deal for me!

 

studying for exams reading & writing to complete  courseworks and thesis at my "young age" is not easy mind you! One of the moms at aliyah's school said "that makes it more admirable"

 

so whats next?? Kamar asked me to take a break for a year or two before even thinking of doing/studying further..

 

for self treat and reward, I made my way to Vic Centre this afternoon and got a dangly thingy.

 

love them both lots..

this is a  post which I hijacked from my aunty's blog.. it just brought tears to my eyes..

http://tokmarambling.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/through-thick-and-thin



I love them both..especially the older one Ayah Cik for he's like a father to me. its not easy growing up without a father whom I lost when I was barely 14 years old.  Cik Aman jangan jeles ya.. you are  like my closest childhood friend & a favourite  uncle cos we are just one year apart.

this song would fit this post perfectly. 
He aint heavy...he's my brother...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl5vi9ir49g

take care ayah cik and cik aman and cik zah & aunty glam..

me & cik aman & aunty marina (aka aunty glam) and cik zah & big missy

 we come from a big family.. ni part of CIK NIK MOH  CLAN..

kamar & cik aman went back a long time ago...

Homework time

Sunday afternoon after nasi lemak lunch....homework and dissertation.

Self treat

What a difference compared to last year's big day. This must be the  worst birthday ever in my adult life. Still struggling to finish off the thesis, half way thro when i only have 4 critical  days before submission.

 

But i'm still happy and grateful nevertheless..my darling hub wished me happy birthday when he woke me up for solat subuh. Lil missy ran down the stairs & gave a hug. She initiated the bday card thingy. But i must say the best bday prez comes fr my big missy. She came into the kitchen this morning & gave me a biggg hug. She's not a "huggy" type and her gesture got me teary eyed for a bit.. And she told me to take it easy today even tho i have so much to do. Dont work as hard as u usually do cos its yr birthday, she said. She went to Matt's house yesterday after school to do their homework and after that got Matt to help her bake a cake to have at tonite's dinner.  She doesnt know how to bake but Matt does. My sis in law & hub asked what i want to eat for dinner tonite & we decided for an indian takeaway..

 

and my best friend Yan sent me a birthday message and phoned this morning..

 

Anyway, its just another day, another  year older..i just hope to be continuously blessed with good health and happiness, good friends and course loved endlessly by the loves of my life.    

 

We are sweet 16

Spending our 16th anniversary in a pod, watching the rain, cuddle cuddle (jgn muntah sapa yg baca ya!)

Hayfield campsite is the perfect place to spend time together. Peaceful & quiet. Very clean & good facilities. Lovely walk by River Sett.

we are 16

we are 16 on Saturday 6/9/2014 but I have decided to write this post a day ahead because we are going away for the weekend and chances are there will not be any internet connection at the campsite.

we had  16 years wonderful years  together since the day we decided to "take the chance"  and hoping for many more to come.  happiness in marriage is a moment by moment choice, a decision to love, forgive and grow old together.. and i want to grow old with the man who came into my life 16 and half years ago.

this video was put together and captioned  by big missy, lil missy decided on the singer because daddy likes Abba, I compiled the photos and chose the song because I don't want anything too cheesy.

the birth of Tok Ma's Ramblings

for my aunty Nik Azizah's  59th birthday, her eldest child Noreen had created a blog as a birthday present and to start off, Noreen made a short & beautiful video which brought me to tears the first time I watched it. when kamar heard the song, he said "pagi2 dah jiwang!"

http://tokmarambling.wordpress.com/2014/08/28/a-special-gift/

the pic below says it all about her..the moment we saw that wall deco in the shop,  kamar said "that's cik zah!" and it couldn't have been in any other grandma's place.

it was Cik Zah & Ayah Cik's 35th wedding anniversary 2 days ago and  the family's whassap chat group was swarmed with well wishes from the children, siblings, nieces and nephews. they are the  affectionate couple we emulate and have always been (and still are)  very dear to me & kamar.

happy anniversary cik zah & ayah cik and happy birthday cik zah. wishing you both wealth, health and happiness till Jannah and we hope both of you could come and visit us next year to celebrate your 60th birthday.. well, actually both of you'd better come cos i'm running out of photographs!

these were taken in 2011.. I know both of you didn't age much but it would be nice to have more photos..

Ramadhan Kareem 2014

This is our 8th ramadhan since we left homeland & the 3rd year of long fasting hours..

on 1st Ramadhan, subuh was at 3am and maghrib at 9.30pm so it worked out to be 18.5 fasting hours and days are getting shorter by few minutes. Its hard for the first few days but as the saying goes "alah bisa, tegal biasa". Insyaa Allah we will try to get through the month of Ramadhan as easy as possible and doing as much amalan as we could. Despite being in summer season, the days havent been too hot..and that helps a lot.

Selamat menjalankan ibadah puasa to all friends & relatives, wherever you are..

37 years later

i was honoured that my secondary school teacher, Cikgu Mohd Nordin Abdullah paid a visit at our humble abode this afternoon. a bit unfortunate that my family couldn't meet him for they were at work/school.

 

i knew cikgu is in Galway, Ireland for his daughter's graduation and also holidaying in Scotland and England and i asked him to drop by in Notts on his way down south; kalau berkesempatan. he called me in the afternoon from Liverpool while i was at work (not been to office for a week - nasib baik meja ada lagi...) and so i dashed home to clean the house - to make it a bit presentable  and prepare some food. Thank God for cheesecake shop and co-op; a real life saver!

 

Cikgu Nordin was my  teacher when i was in form 1-3 at Sultan Sulaiman Secondary School (better known as SS) in KT.  after my father passed away in june 1977,  i stayed on at the school until i finished my LCE exam and moved back to Pasir Mas and had lost contact with my SS friends until we were "re-united" on fb few years ago. who would have thought that i would meet up with him again after 37 years and in Nottingham!

 

i guess, we always remember our school teachers/lecturers especially those who played significant roles in our lives. Cikgu Nordin had helped me  go through the tough time towards the exam. Jasa mu dikenang & terima kasih sekali lagi..Insyaallah kita jumpa lagi.  the next time we go back to msia, will try to bring my family to visit you & yours.  as you said before you left  "you owe me one!"

 

serba sedikit juadah yg sempat disediakan..

cikgu & mrs

 cikgu & wife and daughters and grandchildren

 

Lil missy on "The Wan (One) Show"

Dolly Parton's Imaginative library provides free books for children from birth to 5.  Dolly Parton started this imaginative library at her hometown in US and has now expanded across US, into Canada and UK. so far, 40 million books have been mailed to children and keep on growing.

Mrs Mitchell from lil missy's school has worked hard over the past 8 years to set up the library and fundraising to keep the library going. DP is in UK to promote her new album and also the library and was a guest in The One Show last Friday. BBC interviewed a few students from Junior school who have been in this library programme since they were still in reception class and also filmed the  Choir (lil missy's in the choir) singing some DP's songs to be "presented" to Dolly on Friday night.  the kids didn't have any practice at all,  the songs were learned on Thursday when BBC crew came to the school.   she was so excited.. and mummy too of course..

lil missy doesn't know who is Dolly and how she looks like. Alison, her friend Lucy's mom described Dolly as a petite woman  with big hair and tiny waist and VERY DISTINGUISHED !!

my friend Eva took some pics from telly screen and emailed to me.. thank you dear!!

they sang a few songs  including Love is Like a Butterfly and 9 to 5.

Selamat pengantin baru

This weekend ada banyak kenduri kahwin & tunang ahli keluarga di Msia and i think they deserve a mention in my humble blog.

1. Selamat pengantin baru kepada nana, who is my hub's niece in jb. Tahniah nana & suami dan juga ibu bapa pengantin, che'mat razi & corlyn.

2. Selamat pengantin baru juga kepada my dearest cousin, nik reyzuan (or iwan or abe) & tengku emma. Tahniah kepada my uncle ayah cik nik adnan & isteri cik zah nik azizah..dapat menantu.

3. Selamat bertunang kepada nasrul, my hub's nephew..tahniah kepada my sis in law, kak rozi & abg madi..insyaallah tak lama lagi dpt the only menantu perempuan. Kita tunggu giliran kak odah @ raudhah pulak nanti yaa...

 

Semoga berkekalan hingga ke jannah..

 

Wish we could be there..

 

 

keluarga meriah Nik Adnan & Nik Azizah bersama pengantin baru

 

Abe Iwan & adik2.. 

 

Pasangan hensem & anggun Mohd Razi & Rozlina (Corlyn) dan puteri mereka Nana..  

 

sorry nana & abe, gambar disiarkan without prior permission..  

 

An afternoon at Clumber Park

While daddy & kakak went cycling, mummy & adik walked on lakeside, around wall kitchen garden & had a picnic..on the way home drove past lovely golden yelow rapeseed field..

Spring cleaning starts today!!

Easter holiday is here again & its time to do some spring cleaning. someone said to me last month "easter holiday ni kita spring clean garage (store) ya"..yeah right when he was still in bed at 10am! I was already up & running since 8.30 am after a bit of lie-in, done 2 loads of washing, cleaning, changed bedsheet & duvet in lil missy's room..

Its time to "turn the mattress" too but apparently the new mattress that we bought doesnt need turning, just "simply rotate".

And kamar sprayed the febreeze bedding spray as well..macam csi pulak hahaha!!

God's creatures great and small

Spring is here, finally, almost.

I put out some bird seeds and peanuts to attract small birds in the garden - which I managed to in a sense, but also managed to attract a dove and a squirrel who feasted like there was no tomorrow.

 

So I moved the feeders to hang from the tree branches, and guess what?

 



The squirrel also did the same thing.

New Piano

After about 8 years, I finally decided enough is enough. The old piano was beginning to become a burden - the keys kept cracking due to inferior plastic used in the manufacturing process, so the keys kept getting "sticky" and sometimes stuck in the down position.

Went to the "Music Room" last Saturday and decided to get the girls a new piano. We settled for a Yamaha Digital YPD162R - a slightly smaller but not short of functions piano.

Managed to get 18 months interest free payments because the Arts Council sponsors a programme that helps parents buy music instruments for their kids who are under 18.

Piano arrived at around 12:45 pm by UPS. Noni was at home so I didn't have to come back. Nowadays, everything follows IKEA - you have to assemble it yourself. Good thing I had 2 helpers:

• 1 to read instructions
• 1 to help carry the piano and hold it steady while I fix the screws

Finally after about 25 minutes:

 

 

Kids love the new piano as they can play smoothly on it without having to stop and unstick the keys. Well worth it when you hear them playing - really surprises you sometimes how good they have become; not yet the grand master type, but good enough to make you very happy. Alhamdulillah.