mami-oh-mummy

Einnur Delilah

2011-08-26T13:59:00.005+08:00

Alhamdulillah i got to see mami and papa

i am just too lazy to write at the moment...although i have plenty to write about especially after-labor stuff, about breastfeeding, stuff to get and where etc...about urut, the food, the emotion involve etc...seriously not much has been said about it even in the www. But not now...now i just want to introduce you people especially friends to our new addition to the family, another girl named Einnur Delilah who was born on the 7th August 2011, 6th day of Ramadhan 1432H.

8th or 9th days

Till then, i wish all of you a blessed Aidilfitri and be safe, be merry and be blessed.

xoxo maaf zahir batin from me and the whole family xoxo

Quick updates

2011-07-19T14:14:00.002+08:00

Really quick. I'm in the middle of a 1 week course.

Apart from Abah's birthday last weekend, of course we had my son's birthday a week before that. No fancy celebration, just us watching 3D Transformers at Alamanda. That was fun too....

Other than that, we renovated our bathroom so that it has 2 doors now to both the adjacent rooms. Cant wait for the BPP loan...so slow la people in the pejabat tanah...please hurry up!!!

And, finally, my due date is coming soon; 11th August 2011. Look forward to that. Anyway, congrats to Along and her Putri or Puteri? and officemate Aina and her newborn. Both were supposed to give birth later than me!!!

Someone very special turns 60 today!

2011-07-16T17:42:00.001+08:00

He is my father, abah!!! I know he didn't and maybe won't ever read this...I still wanna make a shoutout here...Happy Birthday Abah!!! Thanks for being the coolest dad ever...literally cool!

No special cake for today, just corn muffin that I hope you'd love...its my first attempt and I think its delish!
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Its a burger!

2011-05-16T13:47:00.001+08:00

I am still at annur specialist hospital waiting for payment etc. Dr Khamsiah my gynae since Dini, confirmed the news.

Happy. Mami is happy. Alhamdulillah, semoga seorg lg anak solehah mami akan lahir Ramadhan ini, mewarnai keluarga kita.
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Cuti-cuti Bandung with frens...

2011-04-26T11:18:00.002+08:00

More can be viewed here.

Just enjoy the pix...definitely will go again with hubby to enjoy Kg Daun and Tangkuban and more FOS...hahahahah

Model cupcake

2011-04-09T10:06:00.000+08:00

Pun jadilaaaa

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First scan

2011-02-10T13:39:00.000+08:00

My 3.5 months baby in tummy...

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Babies of 2011

2011-01-11T09:47:00.004+08:00

we are so blessed this year..lotsa new babies in my extended family...

welcoming Hadziq, the first son of my brother in law and wife end of last year...next was my cousin's Afiz and wife first daughter last week...

just yesterday, cousin's fourth child, another girl in da house...Uni's and hubby congrats...

in a couple of months, mak ngah and my brother's second child...

then our third child someweher in August!!! woo hoo...and my cousin's Along and abg Megat's second child...

we love babies, definitely!!!! lotsa lotsa supplies this year...May all become assets to the ummah insyaAllah...

welcome 2011 and 8th anniversary

2011-01-03T11:18:00.002+08:00

Bye bye 2010.

Happy New Gregorian Year everyone, a bit late because i want to also mark today 3rd January 2011 as it is me and my husband's 8th wedding anniversary. Dear husband, i know you face unhappy times sometimes this time around because I'm carrying another addition to our children now....but please bear with me, i'm sure it will go away once the first trimester ends.

Also, to my son who attended standard 1 today at Sek. Ren. Sri-Al-Amin Bangi. All the best son and may Allah bless you always, be successful in life and hereafter, an asset to the Ummah. Amin.

Working weekends

2010-11-28T11:13:00.000+08:00

Recently, I attended a conference organised by IACSIT and IEEE at Mines wellness hotel (previously known as palace, beach and spa hotel) last 26-28th November.

There were multiple parallel conferences and I attended The International Conference on Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (ICMAE). There were also ICMST, ICINC and more...

The technical committees were mostly (if not all) from Hong Kong. It was indeed very international, and I saw only few Malaysian and Indonesian there. Mostly were presenters from Middle-East such as Iranian, Iraqi and Turks, Koreans and Chinese, and also Indians.

Below is a picture of one of the presenter in the session I attended and presented. However, there was no picture of me presenting :(.
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To die for??? Blueberry muffins

2010-11-05T13:34:00.001+08:00

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its definitely the easiest recipe ever and the outcome is so satisfying...the muffin was very soft, and the crumbling top added crunchiness texture to the soft muffin...

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1 egg
* 1/3 cup milk
* 1 cup fresh blueberries
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup butter, cubed
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Innalillahiwainnailahirajiuun

2010-11-01T18:50:00.001+08:00

.My grandfather passed away before I could meet him. We arrived at the hospital 2 minutes too late. Al Fatihah.
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KTM Electric train system: "train-ing busy-bodies"

2010-11-01T15:58:00.001+08:00

I am right now in KTM's ETS, a fast train that could take you from KL to Ipoh in 2 hours vice versa comfortably...I would have enjoyed the experience even more if the reason me being on it right now is for some leisure trip. However, me n my husband decided to take this train today so that we could visit my very ill grandfather at Ipoh asap without having to find excuses for our other commitments.

Anyway, some infos about this service provided by KTM. It could take u to Ipoh and other cities like Behrang, Sungkai etc in between at a very reasonable introductory price, RM30. You have to purchase the ticket at least 1 hour before the departure time at KL Sentral of course. ( We took the 2pm trip and from Ipoh-KL the last trip at 6.30pm). In the train itself, the seats are comfortable, clean and nice toilet, powerpoint to charge you hp or laptop, and they offer some food like maggie in cup and hot drinks (a smaller version of airasia style)...it saves time and energy as compared to driving, and you could use the time marking students' carrymarks like me :p.
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Lomo LC-A+

2010-10-21T13:06:00.003+08:00

new baby in the house!!!! wait for the outcome...

IMG00530-20101007-0753.jpg

2010-10-07T07:53:00.000+08:00

10th oct 2010
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Salam Aidilfitri 2010/1431

2010-09-14T12:20:00.003+08:00

walaupun bukan lagi 1 Syawal (sudah 5 Syawal), masih belum terlambat rasanya untu kususun sepuluh jari memohon ampun dan maaf atas segala yang menyinggung hati dan perasaan semua...
Selamat hari Lebaran!!!

p.s. Son completed 24 days of fasting...1 because he ate with friends at school, and the other 5 because he was down with fever...am proud of him. and he started praying other than maghrib only too...alhamdulillah sayang mami jadi mu'min sejati ya.

ramai yang melahirkan sempena Syawal kali ini, tahniah...aya, opot, kak ibah among others...

takziah untuk yg kehilangan ahli keluarga sempena Syawal, saya turut berdukacita dan tabahlah dengan ketentua Illahi, semoga roh mereka ditempatkan bersama org yg bertaqwa...

Ramadhan kareem

2010-08-11T18:48:00.000+08:00

Ahlan wa sahlan ya Ramadhan...our aim this year is to train our son to fast full day, if not the whole month, few days ...insyaAllah he will..

Up to the moment I typed this, (1 Ramadhan 1431H 6.54pm) he is still fasting, though very hungry and thirsty...I know you can do it son!
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a real fighter...

2010-07-19T12:22:00.004+08:00

she was...
Innalillahiwainnailaihirajiuun...

i am sadden by the news
but i know that it is the best for her
and for everyone around her
especially the husband and sons
May Allah bless her
and her family

please find out more about her and her stories here

Recycled shopping bag

2010-07-08T21:35:00.000+08:00

Do your part...save the earth. That's your duty as a muslim.

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Report duty

2010-07-06T10:57:00.002+08:00

Alhamdulillah for lotsa things...

i survived the most challenging and hectic week... to complete my thesis, papers and a conference that were organized in between those hecticness...and lost 2 kilos as a result..seriously that's a lost that i really don't mind...;)

so yesterday 5th July 2010, i registered my self as a worker again...(although still being considered as a student until i have undergo the viva..which insyaAllah will be in the next 3 months)... at the same time, its the end of me and UTM relationship...and in two weeks time or so, i'll adjourn my career life with UPNM...it used to be my playground...:)

until that another two weeks, i'm still here at my desk in UKM...i feel so at home in UKM so i pray for the best guidance from Him.

Monday book review 2: Is Allowing Your Child to Study While on Facebook Morally Irresponsible?

2010-06-24T10:19:00.004+08:00

okay i know today its definitely not Monday in any part of the world...i missed last Monday i am sorry. i try to be more punctual and adhere to my own self-set standard next time.

so today i will post not a review of any book, but an article that i read few minutes ago from my google reader; i suscribe this site; Dr Newport is a true student/reader aide which i found out from this blog of kak LG.

i will just copy and paste it here...and i cannot be more than agree to what he has written!!!

The Stanford Consensus

My technology habits are eccentric. I use an old fashioned, non-Internet connected Samsung flip phone with a postage-stamp size screen. I’m not on Facebook or Twitter, and my RSS reader is an emaciated husk, subsisting on a small number of feeds, mainly the blogs of friends. Long ago, I configured Gmail to automatically mark every message as read when it arrives in my inbox, frustrating my attempts to perform distracting quick scans for new messages during the day.

The rational foundation of my eccentricity is the increasingly alarming research coming out of Stanford’s Communication between Humans and Interactive Media (CHIMe) lab. Pioneering researchers from this lab are converging on a scary consensus. It’s long been understood that you’re less productive when you’re constantly switching your attention; that is, the claimed benefits of multitasking are false. Researchers at the CHIMe lab, however, have found that the impact of electronic multitasking goes beyond the momentary sense of distraction, it can also create permanent changes in the brain.

As reported in a recent New York Times article, subjects who were identified as multitaskers did “a significantly worse job” on experimental tasks that required them to filter out irrelevant information — even though they weren’t multitasking during the experiment.

“Other tests at Stanford,” reports the same article, “showed multitaskers tended to search for new information rather than accept a reward for putting older, more valuable information to work.”

Or, as Clifford Nass, a communications professor at Stanford, summarized: “the scary part for [multitaskers] is they can’t shut off their multitasking tendencies when they’re not multitasking.”

This is why I invest so much effort in isolating myself from electronic distraction. In my two fields, theoretical computer science and writing, the ability to focus on hard things for long uninterrupted periods is my most valuable currency. If I lose this ability, I might also lose my livelihood.

As the computer scientist Donald Knuth once said, “Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things.”

The Danger to Students

That’s the rational explanation for my behavior. If you want the emotional explanation, however, turn your (perhaps distracted) attention from Stanford’s CHIMe lab to my blog e-mail inbox.

I consult with around one to two dozen students a week — offering advice on how to find sustainable success. Over the three years I’ve played this advisory role, I’ve noticed an alarming trend: The current crop of undergraduates, who went through high school in an era of Facebook and smart phones, is suffering from serious concentration issues. I receive an increasing number of e-mails from students who have an expert level knowledge on how to study, but are simply incapable of giving the task at hand more than a few minutes of concentration before seeking what the Times article aptly described as the “dopamine squirt” that comes from discovering a novel stimulus.

This recent e-mail is typical of those I receive:

I’ve read your red book, I have an autopilot schedule, I have a to-do list, I block off specific times for each task…and yet I procrastinate like crazy…I have a very difficult time following through.

The sad news is that, according to the Stanford consensus, the longer students have spent working in a semi-distracted state, the harder it becomes to rebuild an ability to concentrate on something hard, like a knotty chapter from a philosophy text, or a tricky calculus problem set.

This leads me to the deliberately provocative title I gave this post. When a parent allows a son or daughter to study in a state of distraction, the impact goes well beyond the assignment at hand. This behavior could be rewiring the young students’ brain, making it all but impossible for him or her to perform the feats of increased concentration required later at college and beyond.

Resisting Disconnection

Surprisingly, when I advise parents of the necessity of enforcing focus (my most infamous advice being to remove the cable connecting the modem to the router during homework time), I’m often met with equivocation.

And, I’m not the only one noticing this trend.

The above-mentioned Times article profiled a hyper-connected family in which the young son, Connor, started receiving his first C’s due to an inability to focus on his homework — an outcome that’s not surprising considering that he shares his work desk with two computer monitors, “one with his music collection, one with Facebook and Reddit.” He also adds to the din an iPhone relaying a constant stream of text messages.

Faced with this obvious problem, Connor’s always-connected father, baffling, expressed pride in his son’s distraction. “He’s a fact hound,” the father bragged. The mother, who is perhaps more aware of the problem, nonetheless threw up her hands, claiming that technology is “part of the fabric of who he is.”

I get similar responses to my own pleas with parents. In addition to the traditional apologist tropes about the Internet’s advantages — Improved visual acuity? The ability to do faster Google searches? Really? This justifies a persistent state of unadulterated distraction? — I also hear contrived scenarios in which being online would add some incremental benefit to the school work at hand (the need to look up word definitions is a common explanation).

A Crusade Begins

This is where I’m drawing my line in the sand. The tired debate on the advantages and disadvantages of hyper-connectedness is fine for adults. A 27-year-old, such as myself, can make his own decision about what mental skills are important. But for teenage students, immersed in a developmental stage where impulse control is dangerously weak and the brain is at a peak of malleability, guardians should have some responsibility for helping to preserve their ability to focus. The teenagers can choose to discard this ability later in life, but by allowing a 15-year old to study while bombarded by three screen’s worth of distraction — even if he is a fact hound, and it’s part of his personality, and he might need to quickly look up a word he doesn’t understand — you’re making this choice for him.

BY STUDY HACKS

Viva Palestine!!!

2010-06-04T10:16:00.003+08:00

(source: http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/)

"And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Scripture, that indeed you would do mischief on the earth twice and you will become tyrants and extremely arrogant!" (Al-Isra' 17:4)

"So, when the promise came for the first of the two, We sent against you slaves of Ours given to terrible warfare. They entered the very innermost parts of your homes. And it was a promise (completely) fulfilled." (Al-Isra' 17:5)

so what we can do about it people??? to pray from your safe abode is not enough...to donate money and stuff is not enough...learn about it more, try to do more by educating the new generations...so that the many Muslims that surrounds the Kaabah all year round are real Muslims and not just some illusions...Israelis are acting like real Israel as what the Quran had said...so are we have been acting like a real Muslim as what the Quran has taught us to be????

for a start, do visit these sites:
VIVA PALESTINA
Palestin dan Orientalisma
aman Palestine
Viva Paletina Malaysia twitter

and together we do jihad, to change ourselves and our environment and ultimately the whole world.

Goreng Pisang Panas...

2010-06-03T12:53:00.000+08:00

...Or hot fried bananas...u can't have those elsewhere but Malaysia. They are among others that I always miss during my stay in Coventry...now am having it for my post-lunch munch...fattening?!! I knowwww.
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Solusi

2010-05-25T10:06:00.003+08:00

Have you ever heard of this magazine...Majalah Solusi...it is in Malay, one of its kind and a very comprehensive as well as i find it very interesting. It is very educational and factual but usually the is delivered in very light manner. The content is up-to-date to current issue and i personally thinkn most of the issues covered really relate to our everyday life as a Muslim of this era.

And whats more interesting about it is that you dont have to go to any book shop to get it...you can just purchase it through this website...and many other books more...happy shopping peeps..."shop here"

Monday book review day

2010-05-24T09:30:00.001+08:00

I have been meaning to start this off quite a while...but the laziness in me...o should I say the procrastination...duh...such a big word.

Ok well...I've been wanting to do a day dedicated to something special in this blog...after much thinking...I decided to review a book that I have read at least on one Monday in a fortnight...

So the first book to be reviewed (that I actually have read in Dec last year) is The Eight Scroll.

The book was authored by Dr Laurence B Brown who is a physician and religious scholar, and the book, its a non-fiction...I like the storyline...its about theologist and archeologist trying to find a scroll hidden long ago from the time of Jacob...there were the Mossad, the cIA and even the Vatican's secret weapon - the - Italian Mafia...whaddaya know!!!

The author dedicated the book to the Most Highness...he wrote...

Throughout the history of humankind, There have always been kings,
But there has only ever been one King of kings,
And this book is dedicated to Him.

Catchy enough to intrigue my curiosity about the book.
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May is for everybody...

2010-05-18T10:40:00.003+08:00

i guess it is too late to say Happy Labour Day to all of us...you and me...and everybody out there...better late than never rite? :)

Then, Happy Mother's Day to all mothers too...especially to Mak and Mama...my mom and MIL....words just ain't enough...

and to all teachers, my school teachers, my lecturers, my instructors, my friends and family who guide and inpire me in everything i do in life...you know who you are...thank you for everything and my prayers are always with all of you...God bless you always...

p.s. 14-16th May 2010 were quite a significant milestone in my calendar this year...abundant lessons learned and new experiences gained. might blog about it later at fotloi

i've been stupefied...

2010-05-05T11:39:00.006+08:00

i want to write and i have lotsa things to write...the truth is i already have few article compositions nicely done but all were mentally written and i don't think it will ever materialize here..is this some sort of a writer's block...ceeewah...perasan a writer !!!

so i guess i will try overcoming that block or whatever it is (or it is just pure laziness ;)) by posting few photos with description and later we'll see what will happen to the 'block' that i'm currently experiencing...(or when i become inspired and motivated again...)

i have been a car-less person for almost 2 months...in between that, i have a replacement car whenever my mom don't need hers...what happened was, my car...my green iswara car was involved in 2 accidents...1st was a chain accident...where the car behind me was hit by a car, in which the reaction was so strong that caused another 2 damages in front of me...everyone involved survive and there were no injuries...then it was chinese new year...and it took more than 3 weeks before i got my car back.

then i went for umrah....and i came back to find that again my car was involved in an accident...

yesterday, the same workshop that i sent my car for the 1st accident called and said that my car was ready to be collected...however....

it died on me and smoke and burning smell came out of the engine bonnet on my way back to my place...two good samaritans helped pushed my car to the divider area so that i didn't blocked the traffic...

my knight in shining armour came to save me and again my car has been towed to that same workshop...

so peeps...drive safely and be alert when you are driving...think about yourself and your loved ones..and think about others...

Today...

2010-04-22T19:03:00.001+08:00

I saw a very big rainbow....and it really enlightened me a bit ...

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Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Subsidised food

2010-04-20T14:56:00.001+08:00

Well, a lot of our domestic goods are subsidised by our government. And yes, we should be grateful for that...but another point of view should be taken into prospective.

In reality, our nation financial is far behind in comparison to our neighbouring countries. The link to factual article about the above matter is here (if you can't get to that link now, please try again later because as you can see I'm using my BB...It is such a hassle to find the link now since our internet connection is yet up to the world standard...so pardon me)

Pic: my subsidised food purchased from cafe at the faculty of engineering UKM.
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Missing vowels...

2010-04-16T18:22:00.001+08:00

Again today I decided to stay and wait for my son doing his kumon. While waiting I stumbled upon this article that makes me smiled...thanks to BrandonLeeSays webpage on the net, I manage to copy and paste it here.

Article: Save Our Vowels

All over the planet, they are disappearing. Scientists are worried. It may be a sign of THE END OF THE WORLD. No, I'm not talking about absent vowels. I got a message the other day that said, "Mt @ 3 rd st crnr @ 12", signed "QT." What did it mean? A young text-savvy person in the office told me that QT meant "cutie," and translated: "An attractive young woman wants to meet you at the corner of Third Street at noon."

I turned up at the designated spot and found a large insurance salesman called Quentin who used his body odour as a lethal weapon. I narrowly avoided purchasing ten year coverage against being kicked to death by emus. Curiously, there were no policies available against assault by insurance agent.

The following week I was at a private dining club when a Hong Kong banker named David told me he had encountered a man who pronounced his name Choong, but spelt in C-H-N-G. "There can't be many names with no vowels in them," he said/ it turned out he was sitting next to a Singaporean doctor named Ng.

That got me thinking. Names without vowels are springing up everywhere. One of the tip executives at DBS Group, one of Asia's biggest banks, is another Chng. And the real name of Top Singaporean Singer Stephanie Sun is Sng. This columnist gets regular story tips from an Indian girl called Shyrnne. I've also heard from a s South Asian reader named Mythry.

Vowels are disappearing at high speed among businesses, too. Ever wondered what happened to Reebok, the sportswear firm? It's still around but has renamed itself Rbk, which to me looks like it should be pronounced rrrrrbuk. Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC. I have an aged uncle who doesn't utter it as three initials, but pronounces it as time before he is arrested for uttering obscenities in public. I hope the KFC staff will have the decency to visit him in prison.

The loss-of-vowels ailment spread to phone maker Motorola, which launched a phone called the Razor, spelt RAZR. This was followed by the ROKR, the SLVR and the PEBL. The really weird thing is that the company itself is gratuitously oversupplied with vowels. Shouldn't Motorola become MTRLA for the sake of consistency? Could someone suggest that to the company's boss Greg Brown, or is he now Grg Brwn?

I've read articles saying that the no-vowels trend is caused by companies trying to give their products the flavor of the trendy shorthand spelling favoured by young people. But a bit of research reveals that the real reason is often more mundane. Flickr, one of the busiest websites on the internet, was set up by people who wanted the name Flicker, but were to slow to register that word and too uncreative to find any alternatives.

Incidentally, any reader been to that tiny town in the dusty mountains of California called Zzyzx? A quack named Curtis Howe Springer founded it as a health spa and called Zzyzx because he thought it sounded different. The business failed. People who looked through listings or directories for somewhere to go, never reached it.

Older readers may recall the computer game Zzyzzyxx, launched in 1982. It got rave reviews from critics but flopped in the stored. Fans did not know how to ask for it. They must have been going into shops and saying: "Do you have a game called zz, ziz, zy, er, um, ah, never mind, just gimme Pac Man."

James Gleick's book Faster has been issued in paperback, now re-titled FSTR. But the publishers' revision is half-hearted, with the main text of the book STILL containing vowels. Why not go the whole hog? U cn stll rd ths wtht vwls. On the other hand, just be aware that vowel-free words can be interpreted in various ways. One day I'll get a message from a QT who actually is a Cutie. But I won't take the risk. Quentin is out there.

Reader's Digest – September 2009 issue – Pages 36 and 37
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A friend in need is a friend in deed

2010-04-16T14:50:00.000+08:00

...Or indeed? Google that up and you'll be amazed with what you'll find.

...I have many groups of friends ..of course as we go through our many phases of life, we meet people and certain bonds are just unexplainable...friends we have many...but special friends are like special help that are sent our way...

And last 14th April 2010 (which was my mom's 58th birthday...happy birthday mak) One group of friends that I have...my officemates-friends minus 1, had a formal girls' day out...and it was a blast.

This pic was taken at our meeting point before we went out...the rest can be seen at http://atiejay.blogspot.com
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one step closer...

2010-04-15T15:22:00.007+08:00

to fulfill the final duty as a humble abid...

labbaik allhumma labbaik
labbaikala syarika laka labbaik
innalhamda wanni'mata
wa lakalmulk
la syarikalah

3 days in Madinah and 9 days in Makkah, is definitely worth every seconds for me and my other half's being away from our beloved children....

everytime i was in the Masjidil haram, facing the Kaabah, my son's school's vow (ikrar) ...wabil kaabah kiblata came to my mind...however some were very daring to state something like this...nauuzubillah this article from influencing any muslim...

the experience and lessons gained from the visit and the ibadah umrah itself are just too overwhelming to be described quickly and shortly...sincerely, i feel cleansed and closer to the Creator...insyaAllah, i hope to be His guest again soon...amiin.

Mecca (pronounced /ˈmɛkə/), also spelled Makkah (English: /ˈmækə/; Arabic: مكة‎ Makkah and in full: Arabic: مكّة المكرمة‎ transliterated Makkah Al Mukarrammah [mækːæt ælmukarːamæ])(source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecca) and us Malaysian (if one is not influenced by those as above)pronounced it as Mekah, is a holy land where there are things that are (not forbidden elsewhere but here)forbidden or 'haram' in the land...this article describes the history of the prophet who was bestowed with the revelation to build kaabah, the symbol of unity for all muslim.

Madinah Al-Munawwarah

2010-04-10T12:29:00.000+08:00

Khabarnya kau panas dan kering
Namun dikala kakiku pertama kali menginjakmu
Hujan membasihi bumimu
Bersama sayu hembusan bayu
Menusuk ke tulang kalbu

Madinah indah tempatmu habibullah
Berebut-rebut kaki melangkah
Menuju ke Raudhah
Tempat mustajab segala doa, InsyaAllah
Tempat bersemadi jasad sofwata khalqillah
Juga sahabat2 nabiullah

Ibu, ibu, duduk ibu
Solat ibu, solat ini raudhah
Yang berbulu mata lentik, berlitup hitam dari atas ke bawah
Mengarah-arah
Ibu-ibu rumpun Melayu
Yang lemah lembut manis akhlaq
Terpinga-pinga mengikut perintah
Sedang yang lainnya hanya memekak
Kuat menggasak

Makamnya Nabi tinggal gambaran yang dibawa bersama ingatan
Kerana dihalang tenda-tenda putih berjalur biru
Pun begitu hati seakan tahu
Bergetar ia tatkala berdoa
Airmata pun tak tunggu lagi
Akur dengan berkah taman Raudhah
Yang kini dari jauh cukup dirindui

"Ya Allah, limpahkanlah rahmat kepada Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. Dan keluarga baginda, dan janganlah menjadikan kunjungan ini sebagai akhir kedatanganku kepada NabiMu, hapuskanlah segala dosaku dengan menziarahinya dan bekalkanlah aku keselamatan dalam perjalananku serta mudahkanlah kepulanganku ini menuju keluargaku dan negeriku dengan selamat, wahai tuhan yang maha rahmat..."
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One step further in self-grooming

2010-03-18T09:58:00.000+08:00

Now, I went a step further from having my hair, face and body treatment done professionally by trained beauticians...

I've fallen in love with manicured and pedicured nails...oh my...that explains why people spend handsome amount of ka-ching just for monthly beauty maintenance...

Seriously, my hands and feet look neater and fresher!!! Even dragged my other half to have his mani and pedi-ed too...huhuhu

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Ahlan wa sahlan wa marhabban biki

2010-03-15T11:56:00.000+08:00

It has been a while. I have been busy with chores...(Well who doesn't rite???)

Anyway...I have been super busy this past 2 weeks playing midwife to my bro-in-law's wife who had brought another miracle into our extended family...

Please welcome the new addition to the family...(Drum rolls.....) Auleeya Erwan Haddie...God Bless and be a good muslimah! Amin.

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for future reference

2010-03-03T11:58:00.004+08:00

i am just so lazy to write...however i found this link today...it is certainly very useful for us parents or parents-to-be...

synopsis...

Secara fitrahnya semua ibu bapa mahukan anak-anak yang menghormati ibu bapa, mentaati hukum agama, sentiasa menjauhi maksiat serta tidak terjebak dengan gejala sosial. Salah satu ikhtiar yang sangat mujarab bagi mengatasi anak-anak yang suka melawan ibu-bapa ialah dengan memberi minum anak-anak ini dengan air tadahan lebihan wuduk ibu-bapa....and the rest can be read from here

(hadith copied ans pasted from saifulislam

“Tidak sempurna iman sesiapa di kalangan kamu sehinggalah diriku lebih dikasihinya berbanding kasih kepada orang tuanya dan anak bahkan sekalian manusia” [riwayat al-Bukhari, Muslim, an-Nasa’ie dan Ibn Majah]

astaghfirullah...i am pausing to reflect on this.

The story of the pencil

2010-02-23T17:59:00.001+08:00

It has been quite sometime since I last 'hangout' at Bangi sect. 4 kumon center while waiting for my son to complete his worksheet of the day...but today he promised to finish quickly, kesian anak mami so I decided to wait, plus I have my girl to accompany me...and it has been very beneficial for I have stumbled upon this very good story...

A grandmother highlighted to her grandchild that she hoped when he grow up, he will be like the pencil she was using. Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil but thought it was just an ordinary pencil. "That depends on how you look at things" said the grandmother. "It has five qualities which, if you manage to hand on to them, it will make you a person who is always at peace with the world...

First quality: u r capable of great things but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that had God and He always guides us according to His will.

2nd: now n then, we have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little but afterwards he's much sharper. So u too must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

3rd: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub our mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing, it helps to keep us n the road to justice.

4th: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.

Finally: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action...

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Picasso in the making

2010-02-23T10:25:00.000+08:00

One day he came to me and showed this...I think it is just very creative of him...how awesome
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Its raining Tuesday night

2010-02-22T19:27:00.000+08:00

There's no special occasion for this post really...I just want to play weather-reporter of the day, reporting from my Bold 9000...kan izan kan???? Hehehhehe......it is really a downpour, and I snapped the photo from our kitchen door...
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My first post

2010-02-22T14:50:00.001+08:00

...From my BB that is...
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hand phone irresponsible service providers

2010-01-20T09:24:00.002+08:00

i don't need to say much...suffice to say i was also a victim...darn!!!!

READ here and here to know what i mean...

i am so pissed *&^$%£"%^&$£!!!"$%^^&**&*""£$@@*^%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

once upon a song...

2010-01-15T15:56:00.002+08:00

Raising your Child: Deen and Dunya (warning: its very long)

2010-01-13T10:01:00.002+08:00

This one was circulated in the FB and i got it from a dear blog friend

From: Aysha Ayaz

This is a wonderful article abt raising muslim children that a sister wrote who is homeschooling her kids in cali…it is a bit long so a cup of tea / coffee along with some quiet time helped me get through it…it was worth every minute to read it…May Allah (swt) reward her (ameen)…it answered a lot of my ?’s. The other day I asked my son’s Qur’an teacher if he had any naseeha abt raising children and I thought his advice would help others. He replied, “My naseeha is the naseeha of our ambiya karim (prophets) and they did 3 things: 1- Gave their children naseeha (advice / councel in a loving manner – ex of Luqman and how he spoke to his son and Rasoul (saw) 2- Dua’ at the time Allah (swt) accepts the most (tahajjud, etc.) and 3 – Keep them away from as many haram environments (keep them always within the halal / haram, also ck close company – influences). Sorry for those that got this twice! Jazak Allah Khair – Take care – ws

********************************************************************************

Assalaamu Alaikum, Friends and Family,

I was recently requested to write an article for a Southern California masjid magazine about “parenting tips” that I have collected over the past decade or so. In the early years of motherhood, it used to amuse me how much time mothers would spend trying to convince one another that their way of parenting was the best. We were all so convinced that the book we were reading or the philosophy we were following had all the correct answers! :) Believe me when I tell you that my intention in this article isn’t to tell you how to do a job I’m sure you’re more than capable of accomplishing, masha’Allah. I am in no shape or form an “expert” at parenting; I too am going through “on-the-job training”. I just wanted to share with you some of the advice I’ve been given from families I have come to greatly admire over the years (some whom you may actually recognize although they remain unnamed, others whom you’ve never met). And, no, I don’t dare to contend that I actually am able to follow all of these tips, but I do definitely aspire to! One can always hope!

If there is anything incorrect in this article, please forgive me my mistakes (and point them out to me). If there is anything helpful you find, please make dua for me. Please pray that Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) guides and protects my family always. Aameen.

Feel free to pass this article on to anyone who’s interested. And I would love to hear your feedback! I didn’t come up with these tips, so feel free to agree or disagree (you needn’t worry about hurting my feelings). :) I am so looking forward to gaining even more insights from all the wonderful mothers I haven’t had a chance to meet yet, insha’Allah. ..

Wassalaam,
Hina
San Ramon, CA

P.S. This article isn’t going to print for at least a couple of other weeks. If you notice any typos or glaring mistakes, please do let me know. JazakAllahu khayr.

I still vividly remember the first night I spent by myself in the hospital after delivering my eldest son Shaan. The guests were gone for the day, the hallway lights were dimmed, the nurses were speaking outside my room in muted tones.

“Knock, knock!” came a cheerful voice from the doorway. “Someone’s hungry and wants his mommy!”

The nurse wheeled in the crib that held my newborn, only a few hours old at the time. She cooed over him as I struggled to sit up, then efficiently handed him into my waiting arms, bustling out of the room after giving me a few words of encouragement.

I pulled the blanket away from his cheek and smiled in awe at this fragile, little creature who was being left alone with me for the first time ever. I felt privileged to be trusted with his care, overwhelmed with the weight of responsibility. No one was watching over my shoulder; he was all mine and I could do whatever I wanted.

I felt it was an appropriate time to take care of something that no one had thought of arranging so far — introductions.

“Assalaamu alaikum,” I whispered to the warm bundle nestled against my chest, “I’m your mommy.” I stroked his face and then asked the rhetorical question that every mother has asked since time immemorial. “Now…how am I going to raise you?”

It’s a question that I have continued to ask since that first magical night in the maternity ward.

I’ve asked it of grandparents, parents, sons, and daughters. I’ve asked it of Pakistanis, Indians, Afghanis, Arabs, Americans, Asians, and Africans. I’ve sat down people at parties, emailed friends’ parents, called up aunties on the telephone, and stopped uncles on their way out the door. Any family whose practice of Islam has impressed me, any child whose manners have stunned me, any teenager whose conduct with his or her sibling has given me reason for pause, any adult whose balance of deen (religion) and dunya (world) has wowed me, I have accosted and asked,

“What exactly did your parents do with you?!”

“How did you raise your children?!”

“I beg you, tell me the secret of bringing up Mu’mineen like the ones I see in your home!”

What I have found in my years of “field research” is that nearly all of these families have stumbled upon the same basic secrets to success. While many of them don’t necessarily know one another, time and time again they have given me the same advice, the same tips, the same rules. I would catalogue their stories in my head, thinking I could easily remember them later. So when I was recently approached with the request for an article on Muslim parenting tips, I jumped at the chance to put it all down in writing and thus preserve the valuable insights I have gathered over the course of the past twelve years or so.

Here then, for my benefit and yours, are the tips from the “experts”, the tried-and-true heroes who have worked hard at (and, insha’Allah, succeeded at) securing their children’s minds, hearts, and souls. These words come from those parents — like you — whose primary purpose in life has been to direct their sons and daughters onto the Path they believe will earn them the Pleasure of their Creator and the respect of their fellow human beings. Some of the advice may seem “common sense”, the type you could hear on any daytime talk show or read in any self-help book. Other tips genuinely surprised me at how specific and unyielding they were in their insistence that “This is the only way”. While there has been a whole variety of advice given to me, I have noticed a pattern emerging where the same ten “Rules of the Game” seem to keep reappearing in different shapes and forms; it is those dominant tips that I have chosen to focus on for the purpose of my article.

I have seen with my own eyes children under the age of ten who willingly set their own alarms to get up for Tahajjud prayer. I have hosted a young soccer marvel in my home who begins his day before mine by reciting Quran at Fajr. I know of an Ivy League university student who insisted on turning the car around because she realized she had left home without giving her mother salaams. I have been acquainted with doctors who make more money in a single month than most people make in a single year yet choose to live in small homes with no mortgages so that their salaries can be spent supporting scholars of Islam. My husband and I work with a young man who once flew with his mother to Jordan, then turned around and returned on the next flight home — all of this so that his single mother didn’t have to travel across the world alone. I have witnessed fourth graders who were able to sit quietly with impeccable etiquette in front of Muslim scholars while the adults around them stretched, yawned, and sighed. I have heard children silence their young friends with urgent reminders, “Don’t say that about him! It’s backbiting!”

A sign of someone whom Allah loves is that when you see him/her, you remember Allah. The examples I have listed here are all people who have caused me to wonder about my own station with Allah in relation to theirs; they have motivated me to at least try to change, to improve. I’m sure readers will agree that, although Allah Alone knows the hidden reality of hearts, these people at least seem to have triumphed both in their embodiment of the true spirit of Islam and in their practical participation in the dunya. I pray that Allah Subhana wa Ta’ala will continue to send examples like them into our lives so that we may continue to learn and implement that which draws us closer to Him. Aameen.

1.) Dua, Dua, Dua

“None of this is from us,” insists one mother of three UC Berkeley graduates who have never voluntarily missed a single prayer. “Everything begins and ends with dua. It is only by His Generosity that we have been blessed with believing children; we had nothing to do with it. Now that we have it, we try to hold onto it by showing gratitude and not taking it for granted.”

Every single family I have “interviewed” about raising children in this day and age inevitably began by reminding me about the power of dua. “Every success I have seen in my family’s life, I can remember having prayed for it first,” admits one grandmother of three huffadh (memorizers of Quran). “If my dua doesn’t come true in this world, I have faith that it will in the next one, so I have patience.”

Another mother of four tells me, “I recited Surah Maryam every single day of my pregnancy. I want pious children above all else — it’s all that matters.”

A convert friend of mine suggests that couples who are about to embark on the path of parenthood should ask themselves, “Why do we even want children?” She believes in renewing one’s intentions on a daily basis. “Who are we doing this for?” When she gets embarrassed by something her children say or do, she questions herself, “Why am I upset? Is it because I’m afraid that they’re doing something displeasing to Allah? Or is it because I’m afraid that they’re displeasing people?”

Her unwavering dua is that her children live their lives seeking only His pleasure.

Many families shared with me their reliance on Salaat-ul-Istikhaara (Prayer for Guidance) before making any major life-altering decisions and Salaat-ul-Haajah (Prayer for Need) when desiring something they felt was crucial for their children’s well-being.

“All that I have is due to my mother’s duas,” believes one mother of five children. “She was the one who was always praying for us, even when we forgot to.”

2.) Suhba (companionship) will make you or break you.

“There were times we sacrificed our own friendships in order to do what was best for our children,” a couple married for sixteen years tells me. When pressed for reasons why one would end a relationship, they explain, “Before we had children, we had friends who ‘drank socially’, who played poker, who hosted dance parties. Once our kids were born, we avoided those types of atmospheres. Our social gatherings are now the type where both the respected elders and the innocent children feel welcome and comfortable.”

“It doesn’t necessarily need to be that it’s the ‘drinking, gambling, partying crowd’ that is holding you back,” muses a mother of elementary school children upon hearing the couple’s history. “I have one set of ‘dinner party friends’ who believe in a ‘children should be seen and not heard’ philosophy. They plant the kids around TV sets and video games while the parents socialize in other rooms. Then I have another group of friends who engage their children in the adult conversations, who don’t keep the younger ones ‘out of sight, out of mind’. It’s not much of a mystery which set of adults my own kids prefer to be around.”

“Sometimes I look around at the people I hang with and I think ‘What happened?’” laughs a mother who has chosen to homeschool her three kids. “None of these people are the type I would have chosen as friends when I was younger, but I admire the way they live their lives and crave the peace and tranquility they trail behind them everywhere they go. They have a sense of purpose and an awareness of Allah in everything they do. I want to pass those qualities on to my own kids, so here we are.”

“Suhba is of the utmost importance. If you sleep with the dogs, don’t be surprised if you rise with the fleas,” a respected scholar advises. The words that struck me the hardest with their wisdom? “When you sit with People of the Dunya, you become a drop in their ocean, but when you sit with People of the Akhira, the dunya becomes a drop in your ocean.”

“A person is known by who their friends are,” my mother always reminded us.

“I had a girlfriend whose company I really enjoyed,” remembers one mother wistfully. “She was the best person to share a cup of tea with, to go shopping with.” So what happened? “She and her husband decided that they weren’t going to raise their children as Muslims. Even though we liked each other a lot, we just didn’t see eye to eye on what was appropriate for kids. There were certain behaviors in her home that were complete anathema to us. I decided that I couldn’t have an independent friendship with the mom; at some point her kids were going to start influencing my kids, and we needed to part ways…so we did.”

One father confesses with a sheepish laugh, “I don’t know if our children are so God-conscious because of anything we necessarily did. My nieces are very spiritual young women, and my own daughters were always drawn to them. I think we got lucky that our children wanted to follow in their older cousins’ footsteps.”

“On the Day of Judgment, you’ll be standing with the ones you loved most in the dunya,” reminds another well-loved scholar, “so choose your friends wisely.”

More than one parent has gushed about the power a charismatic aunt or uncle, imam, halaqa leader, or Sunday School teacher has had over their young ones. Many of the adults gave up a good portion of their weekends, driving long distances to take their children to gatherings and events where they hoped their children would benefit from being around like-minded people. “I firmly believe that no friends are better than bad friends,” states a father of five childen, “but I did go the extra mile to make sure that my kids did have friends with whom they connected.”

“Sometimes kids start to tune out what the parents say because it’s all been said before,” a mother of a middle schooler smiles. “My own parents told me to pray all my life, but it wasn’t until I connected with an articulate teacher who explained how prayer was for our benefit that I finally got the message…and it was my friends who led me to that teacher.”

3.) The Prophet (salallaahu alaihi wasallam) was a living, breathing reality in our lives.

“What better suhba is there than one who reminds another of the deen? Can there be a better ‘companion’ than the Prophet (salallaahu alaihi wasallam)?” asks a UCLA graduate married to a doctor who also does interfaith work for Islam.

When a learned scholar was recently asked, “What should we teach our children?”, his response was swift and unequivocal — “The seerah (biography of the Prophet) and nasheeds (devotional songs of praise). If your kids love the Prophet, they will automatically love Allah.”

“The best way to call people to Islam is to have them fall in love with the Prophet,” insists another scholar. “Children should fear and love Allah, but teach them about the love first. They can learn about the fear when they’re older.. And who loved Allah more than the Prophet (salallaahu alaihi wasallam)?”

An eight-year-old recently burst into tears when he realized that his mother had neglected to wake him up for the Fajr prayer. The adults who were present exchanged glances, wondering what kind of terror the parents must have driven into this young one’s heart. Was he afraid that Allah was going to punish him? Did he think he was going to burn in hell? Upon inquiry, the child revealed that the real cause of his distress was the knowledge that he had neglected something the Prophet (salallaahu alaihi wasallam) took very seriously, something he had exhorted the believers about on his death bed. Needless to say, the mother has been vigilant about waking her son on time for prayer ever since.

Many of the parents made it a regular part of the daily routine to recite the sunnah duas — the duas for beginning and ending meals, the duas for entering and leaving the home, the duas for studying — until it became automatic. It isn’t a surprise for guests in their homes to see children as young as three reciting the dua for traveling as they get strapped into their car seats. “We didn’t minimize any sunnah in our home,” one Pakistani-American father tells me. “Once you start to think, ‘Oh, that sunnah isn’t a big deal; we can ignore it’, you’ve entered dangerous territiory. What comes next?”

“A co-worker recently asked me to name one thing that makes Islam different from other faiths,” my brother-in-law once shared with me. “Among other things, I told him that with Islam I got a prophetic example for how to live my day-to-day life. No other prophet’s life is so carefully recorded as our Prophet’s (salallaahu alaihi wasallam).”

“Today’s generation is so fortunate, masha’Allah,” says one grandmother. “When our children were younger, there was hardly any quality Islamic literature or media out there. Today’s kids have so many choices! My grandchildren go through a different seerah book every year. They are constantly humming new songs about the Prophet (salallaahu alaihi wasallam). I pray that they always find joy in learning about (and then following) their Prophet, insha’Allah.”

4.) Having fun wasn’t “haraam” in our home, but we kept the home environment as pure as possible.

“We’re Indian, but we never watched Bollywood films in our home,” a friend admits matter-of-factly. “We didn’t have bhangra dance parties; we didn’t wear revealing clothing like skimpy saris and sleeveless blouses; we weren’t allowed to be overly chummy with our guy cousins.”

Basically, what she’s letting me know is that what is often excused as “culture” was not allowed to contradict the Islamic shariah her parents taught her to respect.

“But don’t think we were bored or deprived!” she is quick to reassure me. “My parents inculcated in us a love of Urdu poetry. We read classic English novels aloud to one another in the evenings and went on father-daughter hikes in the mornings. My mother showed us how to garden, my father taught us how to fish. My brother had a paper route; the younger ones were Girl Scouts. We had a home life full of energy and activity.”

“It’s important to replace every haraam you stop your child from with at least two halaals they can enjoy,” advises a popular Muslim family counselor. “You don’t want your children to grow up thinking that Islam is just a bunch of no’s — ‘no, you can’t do this; no, you can’t do that.’” She laughs heartily, “Make it about ‘yes, we can!’”

I have a Yemeni friend who has taken that philosophy to heart with gusto. She and her husband may not throw birthday or New Year’s Eve parties, but you should see the festivities they do arrange. When her twins memorized the thirtieth juz, the picnic in the park was enjoyed with two separate gourmet cakes and party favors for all. When this same brother-sister team went on to memorize the twenty-ninth juz, they came home from school to discover their bedrooms decorated with streamers and presents. My five-year-old son recently memorized ten surahs under this auntie’s guidance, and she was quick to organize a party complete with a pinata, awards, balloons, and treats. With memories like these, Muslim adults are bound to look back on their childhoods as a time filled with celebrations, insha’Allah.

“There is so much fitna (tribulation) out there in the world. We can’t protect our kids from everything bad,” warns a devout grandfather of over ten children. “But it is for that very reason that the home must be an oasis where Allah is remembered and obeyed, where children can relax and feel cherished, where they can practice their religion without feeling apologetic or alien. The home environment should be as halaal as possible. Our litmus test was always ‘Would we be ashamed if the Prophet (salallaahu alaihi wasallam) were to walk into our house right now? Is there anything we would want to hide?’.”

The result of this family’s “test” was a tidy, simply furnished home where the television set was absent and books lined the shelves. Flowers bloomed outside every window, intricate Islamic calligraphy adorned the walls, and healthful food was served with generosity and enthusiasm to all who entered. The sense of serenity in the air was something tangible.

I’ll never forget what one daughter of a highly respected elder in the community told me when I asked her how her siblings remained so close to their parents despite being raised in a small town with only a handful of Muslims. Didn’t they ever rebel? How did they resist the siren song of the un-Islamic peer culture around them? “If you feel love in your home, you don’t look for it anywhere else.”

5.) Our parents didn’t just “talk the talk”, they “walked the walk”.

In other words, they practiced what they preached.

“I don’t get it when I hear mothers telling their kids ‘Don’t tell lies’ and then in the next breath smoothly tell phone callers, ‘Oh, he’s not home right now’ when the husband is sitting right there in front of them,” says a medical school resident who is spending time learning Hanafi fiqh as well. “Or how about when parents teach their kids ‘It’s wrong to backbite’ and then complain about the in-laws to anyone who will listen? It’s just beyond me.”

When pressed for examples of not succumbing to hypocrisy in his own family life, he says that his parents taught him and his siblings the importance of prayer and then never allowed them to miss any, even if it meant praying in the middle of Disneyland. “Our dad taught us that while there might be a time for fun and play, it never comes at the expense of giving up our duties to Allah. And since he was always the first to stand up for prayer, we just naturally followed.”

Another experienced mother gave me this age-old advice, “You can teach your kids how to pray all you want, but if you’re not going to pray, they’re not going to pray. Children learn from what their parents do, not just what they say.”

“But it’s not enough to just teach your children to pray,” interjects another mother who was raised a secular Jew but is now Muslim. “What about how you pray? Do you have presence in your prayer? Are you sad if you ever miss a prayer? Those lessons are all just as important as learning to pray.”

I was once working with an African-American convert friend when the time for Maghrib prayer came in. I had been busy taking care of some tasks, but I stopped and said, “Well, I guess I better go get my prayer out of the way.”

Startled, she looked up and then chuckled. “In our house, we say we’re going to get prayer ‘in the way’.”

SubhanAllah, what a difference once word makes! What a difference in attitude!

“I was sitting in my room reciting my morning dhikr while the kids were completing an art project in the family room,” an Egyptian friend shared with me the other day. “It suddenly struck me that I always recite my litanies in private, so I got up and joined them in their area of the house. They continued to paint while I continued with my prayers. They need to see me doing this…and they need to see me doing this happily.”

The other day one of my sons became frustrated while searching for an elusive pencil in the writing desk. He shoved papers aside and slammed the drawer shut when no pencil materialized, grumbling the entire time. I began to lecture him about the merits of patience when I realized that I had behaved in the exact same manner while looking for my keys a few days earlier. Children really are like sponges; they soak in everything around them. “Garbage in, garbage out,” cautions one teacher.

“Children need to see that Islam ‘worked’ in our home,” says another scholar. “Islam isn’t just about praying and fasting and charity. Islam is an attitude that must be infused in the mundane day-to-day dealings with life. Do parents treat each other with respect? How do they react to the ups and downs of life? Children are constantly learning from their parents, even when the parents don’t think they have anything to teach.”

6.) I wasn’t afraid to be the Bad Guy.

I know more than one mother who doesn’t feel comfortable telling her child to pray or to maybe dress more modestly, thinking that her kid will be “mad” at her if she starts holding him/her to higher standards. I know of a couple of fathers who have turned a blind eye to certain immoral behaviors witnessed in their teenagers, never once speaking out, telling their exasperated wives, “I don’t want to judge our kids. It’s a tough age and they have to fit in.”

The adults I’ve asked for parenting advice had no qualms about upsetting their children from time to time.

“There were times when I knew that I shouldn’t go to this place or go out with that person, but I would ask Ammi anyway, wanting her to be the one to put her foot down…and she always did,” remembers my brother. “Kids want their parents to set limits and be authority figures, even if they won’t admit it.”

“I enjoy my children’s company; we laugh together, we read the same books, we even share each other’s clothes,” chuckles one mother of two teenage daughters who race to give up their seats for her. “But at the end of the day, they know that I am their Mother. I am friendly with them, but they cannot treat me like a girlfriend.”

“Weakness in those who are supposed to be in a position of authority only invites contempt,” contends a mother of two. “It’s important to know who’s boss.”

One father of four looks back on his youth and laughs appreciatively, “My mother didn’t worry about not ‘rocking the boat’ when we were in high school. She was willing to capsize the boat if she found us doing something that wasn’t okay with her!”

Other parents impressed upon me the importance of having high expectations of their children. “We have to gently push kids out of their comfort zones,” an Afghani father says. “If you expect more, your kids will often pleasantly surprise you, but it’s important to communicate those expectations.”

One mother always assumed that her children would eventually begin praying simply because they saw that prayer was a priority for her. When a friend asked her why her ten-year-old daughter didn’t join the other girls for prayer, this mom realized that she had never communicated her hopes to her own daughter. “It was only a matter of discussing it!” she exclaims with genuine surprise. “I sat her down for a serious ‘grown-up’ talk. I said, ‘Honey, you’re older now and prayer needs to be a regular part of your routine.’ She listened so attentively! When Asr came in, she ran to get her prayer rug and misbaha (prayer beads) and joined me for salaah. She’s the one who wakes me for Fajr now. It’s almost as if she was just waiting for me to tell her, ‘This is what I expect of you’.”

7.) I always kept them close by.

I wasn’t surprised to see that nearly all of the families I spoke with had the mother at home caring for the children, but I was shocked by how many of the families shared the same steadfast rule — “No sleepovers.”

“Every night I know which bed my kid is sleeping in,” says a homeschooling mom of two and wife of a university professor. “And that bed is one I can check on whenever I want.”

“Friends were always welcome to come to our home for sleepovers,” reminisces a young woman who grew up with a twin brother. “My mom went all out — popcorn during midnight movies, pancakes for breakfast, privacy for chatting and giggling late into the night. But we could never sleep in anyone else’s home unless our parents were there with us.”

“I saw too many weird things in other friends’ homes when I was younger…and that was just during the daytime,” remembers an attorney and father of three. “The first time my best friend saw a dirty magazine was when he spent the night at his neighbor’s house. I might have resented their strictness a bit when I was younger, but in my heart I knew that my parents were right to keep us in our clean, safe, and cozy home.”

“I never let them go far from me when they were little,” explains a mother of two when asked by me how to raise a dutiful son like hers. “My kids could have gone on camping trips and overnight field trips with other parents as chaperones, but unless my husband or I were there, they didn’t go. My husband was once willing to consider a prestigious boarding school for one of our ‘gifted’ children, but I said, ‘No way.’ I just couldn’t let my family be split in different directions; the time we had with them was already short enough.”

“No nannies or daycares for our family,” says a grandmother of five. “And don’t think that I wasn’t tempted! I raised three babies on my own without any help from grandmothers or aunts. A one income family meant that we only took local vacations and drove second-hand cars. We lived in a small home. I went back to work only after the kids were in school, but I was always at home in time to greet them with a smile, a hug, and an after-school snack. Even now, my children tell me that the smell of peanut butter and jelly gives them a feeling of security.”

8.) We didn’t spoil our kids nor did we praise them too much.

“It’s important to me that my kids don’t grow up ingrained in this Sibling Society,” a college professor and father of three tells me.

When asked the definition of a “sibling society”, he explains that it’s the environment where grown adults behave and are treated like children. “We’ve extended adolescence where we excuse bad behavior by saying ‘Oh, he’s just going through that rebellious phase. He’s only sixteen; he’ll outgrow it.’ Outgrow it when? Throughout history, puberty has been considered the onset of adulthood; nowadays we have university graduates who behave like babies — tantrums, irresponsible behavior, no sense of accountability.”

This father celebrates his children’s birthdays every year by giving them a new toy…and a new duty. “When my son turns seven, he’ll get that monster truck he’s been craving, but he’ll also get a new responsibility for the year — he has to make sure that all the doors in the house are locked before going to bed.”

He and his wife believe that having responsibilities, even small ones, inculcates in children a sense of contribution and chivalry.

I was recently given cause to reflect when a friend of mine politely refused an invitation for her daughter to recite her award-winning poem at a masjid event. “Masha’Allah, she has received a lot attention and praise this past week for that poem,” she sighed. “The other day she just happened to be interviewed for a local science program on television too. I just don’t think it’s beneficial for her nafs (ego) to be in the spotlight too much, so I’m going to have to say ‘no’.”

This mother believes that praise becomes “cheap” when it is given for that which children have no control over; she feels that kids should have to “earn” the praise that comes their way.. “What’s the point in telling a child who always gets A’s, ‘You’re so smart’? Or telling a pretty child, ‘You’re so beautiful’? Telling a child who’s struggled through an assignment, ‘I’m proud of how hard you worked on that difficult worksheet’ is so much more meaningful.”

One mother who is often asked the secret behind her kids’ contentment with life has this theory to offer: “It’s actually something I’ve discovered by accident. We have never been motivated to buy the latest gadgets and gizmos for our kids. To compensate for the ‘things’ that we won’t buy, we give them something that’s free yet still very valuable — our time. I bake with them, their dad wrestles. We snuggle on the couch and read together. I think they’re rarely dissatisfied with material goods because they are just so grateful for what little they do get. They don’t have a sense of entitlement. And since whining has never worked anyway, they just don’t bother.”

The father adds, “Well, to be honest, we are spoiling them, except that we’re spoiling them with something that’s lasting, not fleeting — our love.”

9.) Talk to your kids.

I was once singing “Rain, rain, go away; Come again another day; Shaan and Ameen want to play” with my kids when my brother interrupted us.

“Don’t teach them that! Rain is a blessing! You don’t want them rejecting blessings just because they want ‘fun’,” he chided.

After experimenting with the lyrics, we ended up singing, “Rain, rain, pour, pour, pour; You’re a mercy from our Lord; Rain, rain, fall on me; I turn to Allah gratefully.” To this day, whenever dark clouds dampen a day that they had hoped to spend outside, my kids console one another by saying, “It’s okay. California needs the rain. Allah is being Kind to us.”

This suggestion by my brother is a reminder of another piece of advice that families have repeatedly given me — “Never miss out on a teaching moment.”

“When your kids are younger, you should take advantage of every opportunity to guide them, remind them, advise them,” instructs an Iraqi father of two girls. “Of course, there’s a fine line between nagging and teaching, between being judgmental and being perceptive. Nevertheless, I encourage my children to look at everything through ‘the eye of discernment’. What does everything around us mean? Why is that billboard saying that their brand of soda will guarantee a successful party? What was the real reason that car driver honked his horn like that? Why does this movie make parents look like bumbling fools? Is having to wait in a long line ever a reason to lose your temper with a bank teller? Talk, talk, talk to your kids! Even if they don’t say anything, believe me, they’re listening!”

“I want to get my ‘voice’ into my kids’ heads while they’re young,” says one mom. “There are so many forces competing for our kids’ minds; I want to get in while I can. There will come a time when we all have to let go, but I’m hopeful that my children will always remember their root values once they’re out on their own, insha’Allah.”

The families I’ve admired have all made a point of being “present” with their children, answering their questions patiently, not getting annoyed with their seemingly random thoughts. The kids feel that they can ask any question and discuss any subject without any judgment on the part of the parents.

“You know that cliche ‘There’s no such thing as a dumb question’?” asks a Persian friend. “Well, that was always true in our family. I could ask my mom anything, and I was always confident that I would get an honest answer. There were times when I was told that I would have to wait a bit before she was ready to teach me certain truths, but I was able to be patient because I knew that the truth was eventually coming.”

10.) They had a pious father who engaged them.

Yes, there are pious mothers who have raised wonderful Muslim kids despite having husbands who not only didn’t support them, but even disapproved of their attempts to teach their kids the basics about the deen. And there are single moms who are doing an incredible service to the Ummah by sacrificing, striving, and successfully raising the next generation of believers. We all are more than aware that the mother is the first madrassa (school). And there are examples after examples of mothers who spend the night on the prayer mat weeping in prostration for the future of their families; their secrets are known only to Allah.

But over and over I have seen lackadaisical mothers with pious husbands…and the kids have turned towards their fathers like flowers to the sun. How many of us know of young adults who roll their eyes at their mothers’ religiosity while holding their “fun-loving”, worldly, secular fathers up as paragons of rationalism and intelligence? There is a power that fathers have over their offspring, the depth of which we can never fully comprehend; the truth manifests itself when we witness which parent the kid most often chooses to emulate.

A majority of the families I spoke with extolled the virtues of the Amir of the House: the man who led his children in congregational prayer, the father who gently but firmly encouraged his daughter’s modesty, the husband who fulfilled his wife’s rights without demanding his own, the responsible breadwinner, the dad who put a stop to gossip the moment it started, the Muslim who held fast to his principles (whether it was a father who refused to allow his co-workers to shorten his name from “Mohammad” to “Mo” or the dad who wouldn’t travel on Fridays so that his Jumah prayer wouldn’t be jeopardized ). The grown children remember their father’s integrity and quiet examples long after they have entered parenthood on their own, voluntarily choosing to mold their own lives in honor of a man who didn’t force his way of life down their throats when they were younger.

“My mother lectured and taught and scolded and reminded us the entire time we were growing up,” one mother of three sons remembers with amusement. “My father told me maybe only five things related to the deen my whole life…and yet I remember every single one; I’ve never forgotten. I only wish he had shared his thoughts with me more often.”

IN CONCLUSION

While I have always been a fan of “how to” and “top ten” lists, I have never allowed myself to be deluded into believing that there are any guarantees for raising righteous children. It hasn’t been lost on me that the greatest man in humanity, the Prophet Muhammad (salallaahu alaihi wasallam), was intially raised by a single mom…and that too after being sent away to live amongst the bedouins in the desert while still a baby. Many of the “rules” here didn’t apply to his blessed life. His was a singular circumstance, having been raised by Allah Subhana wa Ta’ala Himself. All we can do is try to lay out a safe framework in hopes of trying to reach what he (salallaahu alaihi wasallam) reached through Allah’s largesse.

If we want to be successful at something, it behooves us to look at those who have succeeded before us. Each of us has something we can learn from the experiences of another.

There may be some who will read through the list of tips I have collected and think, “We didn’t do any of those things, yet our kids turned out just fine!”

To them, I say, “Alhamdulillah!” It’s true that there are many kids who didn’t have a single one of these “rules” applied to their lives, and, by the Grace and Mercy of Allah, have turned out to be exemplary Muslims.

And without going into unnecessary details, I will say that I have also seen the most pious, practicing, loving parents be disappointed by their children at every turn. These parents are in the company of prophets like Prophet Adam and Prophet Nuh who had sons who rejected their teachings — yet these were fathers who were from among the best of humanity, parents who were in a constant state of supplication and prayer, who received guidance from Above. We can only pray that Allah Subhana wa Ta’ala will not test us through our children the way He tested these great men and their wives. It’s interesting to note that many of the men and women in my article have confessed that there were times they felt that they had failed in their duties as parents but took heart knowing that with Allah’s help all obstacles could be overcome. Eventually, they all came to the conclusion that there was only “so much” they could do; they needed to submit to Allah’s will.

There is great comfort in knowing that parents will be rewarded not for how our children “turn out” but for the intentions we had while raising them, for the steps we took to facilitate their deeni success. All we can do is take the means; the end is up to Allah. “Even if one’s kids go astray,” advises a scholar, “one should always leave a ‘door’ open for them and pray that they will one day ‘come back’. We should never cut off relations; we should never despair of Allah’s Mercy and Guidance.”

“Parenting and living in this dunya is such a struggle,” reflects one friend. “We have aspirations of who we want to be as parents and we strive to achieve them, and then are saddened by seeing our failures. I guess it’s really about the courage to continue to renew one’s intentions and to pray for tawfiq (success)..”

None of the parents I interviewed felt “safe” or believed that they had “won” and were now “done” with their work. They continued to pray for daily tawfiq long after everyone had started lauding them for the fine job they had done raising their children. “It doesn’t matter how wonderfully we live our lives,” says one local scholar and father of two girls. “What really matters is how we end our lives (husn al-khatima)…we’re not safe until we die with imaan (faith) in our hearts.”

It is with that knowledge that we pray that Allah Subhana wa Ta’ala grants us the dua for “a pure progeny” that He granted Prophet Ibrahim, Prophet Zakariya, and the mother of Maryam (upon them all be peace). We pray that we are able to be worthy teachers for our children who will carry this noble religion on, a precious trust to be handed from one generation to the next. May we not be “the weak link”. Aameen.

“O my Lord! Make me one who establishes regular Prayer, and also (raise such) among my offspring.
O our Lord! And accept Thou my Prayer.
O our Lord! Cover (us) with Thy Forgiveness — me, my parents, and (all) Believers,
On the Day that the Reckoning will be established!”
~ The Holy Quran (14:40)

end of year countdown...

2010-01-05T10:00:00.007+08:00

it was the most hectic week in 2009 and it had been joyous weeks for many in my extended family...

the first countdown was my baby girl birthday!!!! OMG she is 2 on the 24th December 2009...(this is annually by the way ;))...we only managed to celebrate it that night at my mom's since hubby got to work and me attending hubby's cousin's solemnization...(told you it was hectic!)

we sang happy birthday song and when it got louder after everyone joined in my daughter broke into tears...she is very sensitive to anything loud like the vacuum or garbage lorry or fireworks...despite being very active and unafraid of heights and falling...apalah dini!! tak tau lah kot cover syahdu...kekekek

ni gambar pasangan bahagia Julia & Nazmi (my hubby's cousin)selepas nikah posing with aunties...

then on the 26th December was my cousin's solemnization pulak...Dr Nawwal and her hubby En Hafizul...i had the priviliged to bake mini cakes for her hantaran as well as the 3 tier wedding cupcakes and cake...quite happy with the outcome but not yet satisfied...a lot to improve, definitely...love the color...pink is the in colour now...their reception on the 27th...was held at UPM's dewan banquet and it was superb...

and that very night, was the reception for Ami & Julia....hectic, hectic...mind you its in Kelana Jaya ok...and we are from Bangi...dapat la melelap mata after asar kejap before rushing to get ready by maghrib...

hubby had his final exam on the 3rd and 4th Jan 2010...so we did nothing special to mark the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010...i even dozed off before midnight...to me it is just another year...and yes, we must be better than yesterday no matter what year we are in...but i have few big plans for this year...plans yes...new resolution? no...

Penang trip 2009 - the closure

2010-01-03T23:43:00.007+08:00

Since Izan said she'll use my suggestions as guide for her work + pleasure trip to Penang next week...am so obliged to finish this trilogy (cecewah...)

we were so sad to leave ... holiday is like cloud nine, all about having fun at all times minus worries of other things...but we have to get back into reality kan...plus we missed our humble abode already...and ka-ching also didn't permit further damage to be done...so...after another round of water splashing...we finally checked out from the oh-so-royal and heavenly hotel...around noon. dropped by at Hard Rock hotel to check it out (since the day before i had a sleeping beauty in my arms and only hubs went in to ask for room vacancy)... the layout really superb..well at least for ground floor rooms...

so according to google, there are lotsa heavenly lunch options at Prai...but the in thing at the mo is mee ketam apart from the ol'time mee udang...jangan lupa pekena nasi ketam dak pun mee ketam di warung pak su naaa...if you are from penang heading back to KL, just come out to the highway, and then take the exit into Prai Auto city which you can see from afar, then go straight till the end of the road...turn right if i'm not mistaken...follow direction to Bagan...and go straight again...don't afraid if you feel like you are too far in already because just a few meters ahead, you'll find another junction, turn right and you'll see the warung...if u have digital assistance in your car, better google for the exact location because many thoughtful Samaritans have put 'em up...bon apetit!

Penang...truly Malaysian...

Penang trip - part II

2009-12-20T10:43:00.003+08:00

ok before anything i have to correct my above statement...eh is it above? no no..well my previous statement...we actually have been to penang post-kid time, visited hubs cousin Kak Ida and a friend living in Perlis...at the moment, my kids and hubs are enjoying the pool again (after yesterday 2ish-6ish playing in the pool session)...after the excellent buffet breakfast we had at this hotel. me too lazy to change and join them...so i decided to do this update..if i 'perapkan' this story...i'll be too lazy to update later.

so continuing from the previous entry...we checked-out from Safira's chalet and crossed Penang bridge around 9ish in a mission to hunt for Argyll road's roti canai since that was what many bloggers suggested as the best roti canai in town....after many wrong turns and directions searches in google...we decided to ask a police traffic who happened to be in front of one of the white building somewhere i think along padang kota lama...so we found it finally...just as described in many blog or food forum in the net...you just google makan best penang..and you'll get a list that needs more than 2 days and 1 nite to be able to try all the foods...my review for the roti canai...its ok la..the portion was a bit big as compared to what we usually get in KL...the gravy was a bit on the salty side...(or maybe it is just me because i'm not a salty-person...) my bibik said the roti that was salty instead...but my son enjoyed the tender beef that was included as gravy for the roti canai...

Caption: at argyll's road

but my hubby said the blogs actually suggested roti telur...and yes his roti telur was quite nice....teh tarik was so-so...not too sweet though...anyway they are moving to a better shoplot...so appearance-wise might improve to the better soon..

caption: the roti canai 'banjir'

so after our grwoling tummy were filled, we decided to look for the nasi beratur shop since we saw the jalan masjid kapitan keling where the infamous shop is, on our way to argyll road earlier

nasi beratur starts at 10pm...too late for a family trip convoy with small kids..and we opted for seafood at teluk tempoyak instead of nasi kandaq for dinner that night...

...i suggested to my kids to try the trishaw...walking down my own memory lane...we used to go to Klang town from my aunt house just somewhere behind the pasar jawa Klang naik beca with my late Opah...those were fond memories i had with her...ahh those time...i'm not so alien with beca-ride...even when we were living in KB, i remembered vaguely though...of many beca rides with ma late Opah...al-fatihah to her...tetiba emo pulak...

doing the touristy thingy with the kids and bibik sans hubs..hubs took his time alone to capture old Penang buildings photos...

this is masjid kapitan keling..aged 1800++ years old as according to our abang beca..

kids in front of Masjid Acheh aslo aged around 1800++ yeras old...

this was taken at Muzium Islam Pulau Pinang...a small old heritage house..if i was not mistaken was owned by Syed AlAttas long ago...correct me if i was wrong eh....this is entirely depends on my mental note je..

do you know..(well i didn't)...Penang also have penempatan atas air like KK...and they are 4 jettys according to family's name..(Chinese that is) this one is Chew's jetty (if my mind does not fool me and u...hehheh)

and the final stop was here...the ride was about 1 hour and it cost only RM30 (this price was suggested by the Penang gov as it was stated in the tourist brochures, yeah abang beca showed me when he mentioned the price)..(considering susah payah abang beca tu kan!!! its worth a try peeps...)

Penang trip - part I

2009-12-19T06:58:00.004+08:00

wah belum apa-apa dah type Part I kat title...muahahahhaha

ok peeps...now it is 0700 in the morning at Seberang Perai...(hahahha still GMT +8 and not elsewhere gaya je lebih)...kids are still sleeping ( i was about to say in bed but they are not exactly in bed, one on the sofa in front of the tv and another on the heaps of thick blanket on the floor in front of our bed)

we are in our CCM (cuti-cuti Malaysia) holiday cum actually my hubby has this event he had to attend but it was yesterday and last nite..so today we officially are vacationing...woo hoo.

me and hubby had been to Penang many times of course during our childhood but i think only once since we were married and that was way before the two kids....

so... Penang...is a heaven for food lovers, no??? i already have like a list of good places to eat...thanks to kak su and informations from this blog and this blog...so really i don't need to add anything to their well described reviews...but up till this point of time, none of my food-to-try checklist is ticked since yesterday we roamed around without hubby. so we just hang out at Sunway Carnival Mall, find our chalet...play at the swimming pool and then back at the same mall for dinner and to pick up hubs there.

this trip was a last minute decision so we had not booked any hotel prior to the journey. thanks to my BB i got all the information and contact numbers on our journey yesterday i frantically made all the required calls but to no avail really...all hotels...the noraml rate to the most expensive were fully booked!!! i mean is it really??? takkan lah bilik saetiap satu hotel like 200-300 and all were fully booked??? cam tak caya kan...(suke je la menaruh prasangka dan mencipta teori konspirasi disitu kan...) as usual when we have this kind of problem,,,like we really need something there and then and we couldn't get it ...macam cari parking spot in a mall ke...i would ask my son to say his prayer (doa anak2 kan ikhlas and insyaAllah dimakbulkan...) seriously the first time i asked my son to do that masa cari parking kat the gardens...amazingly few seconds after that terus jumpe a special spot...so peep trust me...always ask from the right source, always ask from Him cause he is the Most Powerful and the Most Merciful and He answers prayers...seriously...well i don't need to elaborate about that really...i am sure all of you do the same kan...but its a good way to teach your kids lah coz sometime we just pray in our heart kan...anak2 tak tau pun that we prayed..bukan nak menunjuk2 but its indirect education for them. bebellah pulak...nanti ada orang tu jerit bingiiiit!!!

so sambung citer...my son and my daughter prayed for a good hotel with swimming pool and alhamdulillah after calling practically all the hotels listed in the internet kat Perai ni (which is not that big pun kan...) finally one is willing to put us in a waiting list...tapi since i can't wait until they confirm...i called back an hour earlier and alhamdulillah even for 1 nite..we got a place at Safira Country Club...its a club house which offers chalets to public...its like 5 mins je kot from the Sunway Carnival Mall...so realy a convenient for me kan...our chalet is a two bedrooms one...it comes with a hall, pantry, fridge, sofas and tv with astro hannels (411 is there and no cartoon networks) and free wifi...for 195 per nite...not sure if this is the ususal rate or school-hols rate...not bad huh...alamak suddenly my daughter woke up la...so have to wait for the next entries yer...pics are already in my FB but no pics of this chalet lagi...so later i will upload..peace. dah upload pics...enjoy...

while waiting for our hotel comfirmation...i took the kids to indoor playland..this was the first time for adik...abang had tried the one in ikea twice i think...and they had a blast of course....

the two-rooms chalet, our temp abode in Prai...

the hall..and the kids

dinner that night at sunway mall

with their bibik while waiting for their dad to come out from his convention...

aaah so that was the cause...

2009-12-10T09:55:00.001+08:00

trust them when they say you can find just anything from google!!!...these are superb guides that i found here

Most often, baking problems result from oven problems. We suggest you first check your oven thermometer to be sure your oven is heating properly.
If your oven is too hot:

Your cake may have tunnels and cracks.
Your cake may set before it fully rises and may be uneven.
Your crust may be too dark.
Your crust may burst or crack.
If your oven is too cool:

Your cake may have coarse, dense or heavy texture.
Your cake won’t set fast enough and will fall.
Your crust may be too light
If your oven temperature is uneven, your cake may be uneven.

Your cake top can also burst or crack from too much flour, too little liquid, or improper mixing.

If your cake is uneven, you may have mixed the ingredients improperly or spread it unevenly.

If your crust is too dark, you may have used too much sugar.

If your cake texture is coarse, you may not have combined the fat and sugar well enough.

If your cake is too dense or too heavy, you may need more leavening or liquid, or you may have used too much sugar or shortening.

Angel food cakes fall because the egg whites are dry from over beating.

If your cake crust is too light, you may need more sugar.

If your cake crust is soggy, you may have under-baked it, cooled it in pans without proper ventilation, or wrapped it before it completely cooled.

If your cake is crumbly, you may have used too much flour, not enough sugar or shortening, or over-mixed the batter.

If your cake doesn't have good flavor, your formula may be unbalanced, or you may need to check the quality of your ingredients.

its december 2009 already???

2009-12-02T12:19:00.000+08:00

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

gameboy not just for boys...

2009-11-24T16:17:00.002+08:00

papa promised his son a game of his choice since he got number 1 in the last exam...both of us dah berkira-kira psp or wii (especially wii la sebab nak tumpang sekaki lah kan...)but he insisted to get a gameboy...peer pressure influence lah ni....since my cousin's son pun dah ada gameboy...

they bought the gameboy from warta but mami wasn't there to witness the selection process sebab sebok attending yet another cake deco class..tee hee...will elaborate in next post...(kot)

apparently the gameboy is not just for that boy...but rupa2nya the bigger boy pun ada hatiiii....sempat lagi before he left for work this morning!!!

other than handbags, shoes or clothes

2009-11-18T13:16:00.007+08:00

most girls (yang kurang kekuatan untuk ber'zuhud) love all the above kan??? kan???

well...same here but yours truly can't afford to like it too much (yet...hahaha doakan i kaya nanti i belanja u all handbag sorg satu okay), so (for the time being) just liking it from magazines or windows shopping la...

so other than all the above...although a bit tight in budget, i have pulled enough courage (financially n phisically and mentally) to venture further to acquire a new skill in cake decorating...(juga setelah dihasut dan dijampi serapah oleh my fren si shelly after we met in my first ever cupcake deco class conducted by kak wiz di sugarflours) p.s. to kak jun (and kak wiz too ;P)...yeah we firt met in the class but build up the friendship through our blogs sebab masa kat kelas tu dia ada BFF dia..so kite jeling2 je la kan...)

tak perlu la cerita banyak sini sebab we all dah glemer kat sini..wooo hoo perasan! enjoy.

some pics from my BB;

the pre-make-up

si shelly tgh nak lekatkan the sides...

tumbang sebelum dipotong...advance birthday cake cutting for my girl

yang dah selamat dipotong

kalau nak order silelah...heheheh but i am a newbie and i don't do delivery ye...

this is just the beginning

2009-11-16T19:09:00.004+08:00

alhamdulillah you did very well son...but this is merely a start...education is very important but it does not only come from school, so open you eyes and ears and heart...yang baik jadikan teladan yang buruk jadikan sempadan...mami and papa pray for your well being here and here after. congratulation for bagged home three prizes last saturday!!!

here a song that i'm into right now and think about it.

funny dini...

2009-11-04T15:51:00.003+08:00

This is a picture of her with bleeding forehead...the end result of miscalculated landing space from jumping (or diving?) from my mom's sofa..instead on their (with the abang of course) landing area made of duvet and pillows, she landed on the sarawak's wooden mat...ouch!!!

well. she has quite a long hair and as active as she is...of course she sweats rather profusely...so everytime i kissed her near her ears i usually say...bucuknye anak mami ni (you are so smelly my dear)...banyak taik telinga ni (lotsa ear wax)...and one day, out of the blue she said to her bibik...tinge adik yak...sini (showing one of her ear)...(bibik, my ear pooed...here..)

wakakakakakakkaka so funny that one yet so cute!!!

adik saya kawen...

2009-11-03T10:09:00.004+08:00

my syawal has never been as busy as this year's...what with raya, our CCM to KK, and on top of that my brother's wedding...

ye...nak tunjuk kek sebenarnya...ahaks...again...my deepest heartiest gratitude to my sifu kak wiz atas segala tunjuk ajar dan hakcipta terpelihara pengantin bear topper itu...

The much delayed post

2009-10-30T16:30:00.009+08:00

Arwah Wan...alfatihah semoga dicucuri rahmat

families mostly 3rd generation kat Segamat

my family - my side

BBQ at MIL's

our CCM in front of Mount Kinabalu

yes...i have not put any tales about eidulfitri 1430H/2009 yet.

hari raya was meaningful this year...raya night at my mom's (yeehaaa) and the second nite at hubby's gramma's at Klang...third at MIL and we did BBQ which was fun..next day Segamat...phew...a couple of days 'resting' at home doing laundry all by myself since bibik celebrated raya at her hometown...Malang, Surabaya...

then we headed off to the East...our much awaited nucleus family holiday at KK...but sad news greeted us just as we landed in KK cheaper airport (not the KKIA)...my hubby's gramma passed away after few days struggling at the ICU...rest peacefully dear Wan...and not just that but smses from hubby's boss furious about the holiday right after hari raya holiday...well??? he had applied (for the leaves) in advance...and tickets were bought somewhere in May!!! God help us...but all that didn't deterred us from having a good getaway just the four of us!!!

what you wear matters!

2009-10-14T09:27:00.005+08:00

its 25th Syawal 1430H already...and i'm still terhegeh-hegeh trying to finish my fasting in Syawal pulak...

lotsa stories...sad and happy...but all that have to wait and make way to this very prompt comment made by my son this morning when i stopped in front of his school to drop him off...

"..nape mami pakai baju ni? hari-hari pakai baju ni?..."(err??? well it was a floral printed blouse, and yes it is very colourful...not so elegant but a real comfy coz its quite an expensive cotton!..and compared to yesterday..i might look like a makcik2 i'm not sure but hey!!!..)

" mana ada hari2? semalam kan mami pakai baju lain?"...ye...hari2. semalam mami pakai baju apa?" (with a cheeky sheepish smile!)..."semalam kan mami pakai baju kaler pink??? dah pegi skolah..."

critising now ye...hurm.

Salam Aidilfitri 1430H/2009M

2009-09-14T12:41:00.003+08:00

Ramadhan dah nak berakhir...tak cukup rasanya untuk mentarbiahkan diri...sibuk je ngan urusan2 duniawi...

tgk je pics2 kat atas ni...tapi alhamdulillah rasa tak berlebihan...semoga ramadhan kali ini diberkati dan sempat bertemu Ramadhan lagi tahun depan.

Daripada Ezuan, Dian, Damean dan Dini, kami mengucapkan salam aidilfitri buat semua...maaf zahir batin, terutama sesiapa yang terasa terkilan membaca blog ni...wasalam.

110909

2009-09-11T07:00:00.003+08:00

i had the intention to post something here last 090909...just for the fun of it...but personally, today is my 'happy' day really (not for many Americans though!)...so i thought just wait a few more days.

32 years ago, my mother had struggled between life and death at Ipoh GH, without my father beside her, to give birth to their first child; a very bouncing chubby baby, yours truly. and since i am a mother myself now, i understand the feeling more...(or so i thought la).

anyway in the family, September is not just my happy day...it is also my brother in laws' (both of them), my brother's, my husband's and my mother in law's...so really it is a very 'happy' month for all of us. so to all of you...happy birthday and may all your wishes for this year will come true and God bless in all of our undertakings.

if i am not mistaken, in Hijri calendar, i was born in ramadhan. and this year its ramadhan again...so this time, i am really celebrating my birthday. however...my struggle with the-x is far cry from finishing although i had planned by hari raya...at least full first draft should have been submitted...but who am i to complaint if that is or isn't fated for me...but i am working hard towards it and hopefully God will grant me with rahmah and maghfirah.

Happy birthday - Frank Sinatra

a dedication...

2009-08-30T10:06:00.003+08:00

tee hee...i know...2 posts in a row??? a revenge of some sort? nay...just that this post was delayed a long time...it should have been posted long time ago...more appropriately during Teacher's day coz it is a dedication to a teacher..who has taught me well and inspiringly...teacher wiz...

dear kak wiz, i have actually put all these pics in my FB...but i thought i should show them to you so that you know that i do practice what you have taught me...so kak wiz, whaddaya think?

Ramadhan 1430 / August-September 2009

2009-08-30T09:58:00.001+08:00

Okay I know…I said I want to be idle and I should be… in reality I didn’t left the virtual world even for a day…if I don’t have proper internet connection, I would use my classic Nokia hp to just check out new statuses in FB, or update my own.

I have been meaning to write in here a long time but I have been busy with things…life was hectic the past few weeks…especially last week, a day before Ramadhan…my daughter was confirmed with pneumonia and had to be admitted; alhamdulillah she’s fine now. That weekend must’ve been the most traumatic weekend for her…she was so phobia to the nurses and doctor there…she cried a lot and it broke my heart but now that was history…yeay. Thanks to Dr Arbaiyah of Annur and all her staffs. Also to the prayers, the lots of love and concerns from family and friends (of the real and virtual world)…thank you all and of course I can’t thank all of you enough.

I know it’s a bit too late but its better than never right…so I would like to take this opportunity to wish all you readers Ramadhan alMubarak (blessed Ramadhan) “selamat beribadah disepanjang bulan Ramdahan ini dan selepasnya”…quoting Ustaz Hariszal from his famous blog, a reminder to myself and hopefully benefits all of you too, lets us not just be happy and satisfied with the knowledge that we acquired when we were 15 years old, now that we are much older, we must seek further especially the knowledge pertaining our beloved religion in order to deepen our Iman and strengthen our Taqwa…perfecting our amal and ibadah lillahi taala…amiin.

Semoga Dirahmati

2009-08-13T15:34:00.001+08:00

Innalillahiwainnalillahirajiuun...pergi yang tak kembali.

Rabbani

idle

2009-07-08T11:45:00.002+08:00

i know there aren't so many audiences pun, however, i still need to acknowledge my small number of audience.

thank you for checking me out, but i think this page will be in idle mode for quite some time...however, my twitter will be updated as usual, at least during the weekdays.

thank you, will miss u all.

see you when i see u.

real quick penne with tuna mayo

2009-06-10T13:14:00.003+08:00

i was home alone ...kids at mom's. mission was to do school work as usual without anyone disturbing. one of the missions accomplished. come lunch time, time to reward my self for the mission accomplished...i need something quick to fix but no instant noodles...had too many of that during our recent trip to East Coast. i had tuna mayo leftover in the fridge...so i thought hmmm that would be a nice penne & tuna salad...

so

i boiled 3 handful of penne with lotsa salt
then drain them
and put them back in the hot vision pot
a sachet of chicken cream soup powder, mixed with 2/4 cups of hot water
then throw in the tuna mayo, all of em
then lotsa pepper
and diced celery
and two dashes of parmesan.

and my lunch is ready...yummy!

Idiots coackroachas!!!

2009-05-26T11:49:00.005+08:00

This is the beautiful Taman Tasik Cempaka up-close and personal!!!

Need i say more...it is a beautiful place indeed...but look at our people mentality!!!

I hope the PBT/MPKJ/kelab rotary whats not...please do something about it...

Disclaimer: Pesuruhjaya Sumpah di Bangi

2009-05-20T09:48:00.004+08:00

I have been advertising this here quite a while and it does brought people who used the internet to find a commissioner for oath in Bangi. Well, just to disclaim that this blog does not belong the Pn Commissioner but her daughter instead ;).

Anyway, for those who needs khidmat pesuruhjaya sumpah di bangi, silalah berhubung dengan;

Pn. Hjh. Zahariah Mahyuddin
Commissioner for oath
31-1-1b, Level 1,Jln Medan PB 2B
Seksyen 9
Bandar Baru Bangi
(sederet dengan Vanilla Pastri/
Kedai Halal Zain/ Hot Soup and Bun tapi tingkat 1)

Come by to (Monday - Wednesday);or call 01 six 37 one 8 two 1 two any time.

PiMp mY rIde

2009-05-18T11:50:00.004+08:00

I believe I am a good driver. I have been driving since I was 17, I took my license test after SPM. I paid the fees with my own part-time salary and very proud of it. I flunked the parking test twice because I was too impatient to follow the “mark the back window pane and the shaft” rules etc. but got full score for on the road. I was very independent since I was young (and really hope my children will inherit this trait for their own sake!).

My parents were very supportive as well as they allow me to drive their car even I was still an inexperienced driver. Of course I have few incidents & small accidents (never with another driver, only with immobile things like the post and the like) here and there but alhamdulillah never a fatal one.

To cut a long story short, I started to own a car (well, given by my parents of course) during my asasi years in UM. Not a fancy one but still, not many had cars at that time. And as my car was one of its kind during that time, we were quite famous. Plus the passengers were usually more than it could carry. After almost two years of its service, it decided it couldn’t take it anymore and just died on me, not the engine but the body! Some shaft or something just broke as a result of over the limit weight day in and day out I guess. Anyway, I love and missed the car. The car stereo was the analog one ya!! Giler cool…

my car looked something like this, but shinier! cool babe.

Then, I got a Kancil, a manual car with gear up to 4 only. The plate was KAN1535. I was in my first or second year in the Eng. Faculty and I lived in Vista Angkasa with few mates. Another mate also got a Kancil, so there were two Kancil red (mine) and blue, my mate’s – enough to carry all of us to everywhere, even balik kampung Perak to feast on durian at my atok & opah’s.

After that, it was a green manual Iswara. Actually, it was my mom’s new car, but we exchanged cars because the rad tax of mine need to be renewed. I don’t know why or I ccan’t recall why the Iswara got stuck with me, even until I graduated. Of course this was the best car lah…bigger, and aircond pun best!!! Owh, not to mention the digital stereo. He he he.

I used the car until I got married (if I’m not mistaken). But I paid for it once I had my own salary as an assistant engineer in some Japanese company in PJ. Once I got married, I don’t have any car anymore. I rode with my hubby Satria Gti (no longer around) or commuted with my father to work (yes we work in the same place).

Recently, I bought a second hand automated Iswara (my OWN first car!!!) to commute between home and my Uni and places in between ;) (I can’t commute with dad no longer because I’m on study leave, so different destinations already). Again, its nothing fancy but for now I can only afford this. But of course, at times like when its too damn hot and I feel like I am in the oven being baked like my cakes instead of in an air-conditioned car, I wish somebody could just pimp my ride!!!

the latest toyota corolla, compare it with the above! pergh...

Daily chants - 1

2009-05-15T15:19:00.001+08:00

These are among few of my routine daily chants!

“...eat abang, finish up your food now! (repeat every 2 minutes)"

" hurry eat up...This is not weekend, you’ll be late for school!”

“Kunyah la abang, suap nasi dalam mulut…don’t play with your food!”

“abang…eat your vegetables!”

“do your Kumon, hurry up. don’t waste time”

“go and brush your teeth now, pee and wash your feet, and then go to sleep..NOW!”

“kumon pleaaaase!”

c/o

“imaaan, cepaaat la!!!”

“have you iqra’ed today?”

“please abang, don’t just pull that from adik!!!..”

“adik, sit..sit adik!”

“adik takmo panjat-panjat! Jatuh karang!”

“good girl mami,”..abang? “ yes, good boy”

“adik, sit..sit adik! Biar mami ikat rambut ni”

“adik! Finish up nenen ni, sikit je lagi”

“kang mami pok nak?”

Repeat Chorus till fade…

Important notes on making fruit cake

2009-05-13T15:36:00.002+08:00

design of layout courtesy of http://tempusfug.blogspot.com.

p.s. original design of the layout is very nice but i don't know how to put it in here after typing in the notes in powerpoint. any idea?

Mother

2009-05-13T10:43:00.002+08:00

Mother is the next person to be loved and respected after Allah swt and Rasulullah saw.

April babies...

2009-05-04T10:21:00.006+08:00

Happy birthday to all of you...May Allah bless all of you always, and happiness surround you all, all year round...Mak on the 14th. Then...the new addition to our family, he was born on the 19th at Azzahrah Bangi, and recently named as Dawami Irfan bin Darma Hidayat. May you become the true muslim and mujahid...your Walid surely hopes for that!

And last Thursday, pak cu Daril, my youngest brother...

and on Labor day itself, Kak Su, my mate's birthday. I had the privileged to bake her favorite's cake i.e. carrot cake, twice! once for her son's akikah at temerloh and one for her lab.

and i was very satisfied with the cakes sebab ada deco carrot!!! yeay. the first was made out of the cheese cream, but the latter guna sugarpaste...seronok sangat...!!! i learned to make those through the internet of course, google can answer all problems, trust me. he he.

peekaboo!

my busy weekends

2009-04-28T14:59:00.004+08:00

sebenarnya saya sungguh malas untuk update, tambahan dengan kerja tertangguh yang tak siap-siap akibat sebab-sebab lazim...tapi i want to mark happenings in my children life so i must.

it actually (the busyness?) started few days before weekends, on Thursday when i agreed to bake 25 cupcakes and a carrot cake for Kak Su, among the few friends who supports my cake baking and deco passions. i started off around 9ish and managed to bake the cakes as ordered plus a batch of mini chocolate muffette as requested by my son or as he called it kek hitam before 12, with two ovens. i browsed the net for baby shower cake design and really like the booties with bibs design that i found here. of course, saya budak baru belajar...mine was nothing in comparison to those...tapi saya berpuas hati setakat hari ini dan berazam untuk meng-improvekannya.

hari Jumaat berjalan seperti biasa dengan saya berjaya membeli sepasang kasut tumit tinggi di Alamanda selepas makan lunch bersama Uni and the girls. Saturday my husband has his Master class in UKM. But last Saturday was different because that night we had a dinner to attend and that was the reason for the new pair of shoes. Yang penatnya sebab since morning, it was non-stop for me. Went grocery shopping and carik baju sukan for my son at Warta and then 2.30 rushing to Putrajaya for his swimming lesson. owh ya...i enrolled my son for swimming lesson in Putrajaya under eziswim. i think it'd do him good, in terms of the swimming itself, plus building his confidence sebab banding abang dengan adik, adik nampak lagi berani...si abang ni penakut sikit...pakai pelampung pun boleh terjerit2 kalau orang lepas kan tangan dia. adik pulak ingat dia super swimmer, nak berenang sendiri without help...haih. funny.

pastu malam tu the dinner. it was actually my husband's event, me was only to accesorize him...he he he, hence the brand new shoes...:)tapi baju lama, anyway i had fun sebab dah lama tak pegi dinner2 ni...cuma my eyes were hardly opened towards the end tu...mana taknye salu kul 9 tu dah membongkang...tak tunggu sampai habis pun sebab banyak sangat sesi "suka-suka bagi dia" macam sesi kuiz sape cepat angkat tangan jawab and depa suke2 pilih dpt jawab dpt hadiah...sampai rumah my baby girl tak tido lagi....memang tak pernah lagi tinggal dia sampai lewat malam. and she is still mengempeng...so she can't sleep without me lah tu...habih sume atok nenek berjaga..since we slept at my mom's that night...

sebab...bend it like beckham la pulak...

the next day, my son has a football match and we have to be at the field as early as 7.30!!! adeh...dengan penat semalam nye...adik tinggal because she was still sleeping when we left. it was super duper hot day, and my son's team were among the underdogs...so after three matches kitorg boleh balik which was good sebenarnya..around 11ish but panasnye tak terkire! anyway each match was only 10 minutes, 5 minutes for each side...kelakar...mak mak yang jerit tak hingat laaa....those kids bukan paham pun the other side/opponents, which goal to aim for and what to do...susah tau nak ajar budak2 kecik ni strategy...so sape yang nak anak jadi cam beckham ke ronaldo ke baik start awal cam nih...

lepas tu sumer membutola..apo laie. there goes my weekend. tapi monday husband and son deduo cuti pasal sukan tu...yeay. mami pun join la sekaki mencutikan diri.

Happy 57th Birthday Mak!

2009-04-14T10:26:00.002+08:00

Today is my mom's birthday. I wished her this morning through sms. And then sang her birthday song with my daughter when we arrived at her house after sending my son to school. She said she felt nothing (special) today. Nevertheless, without her, i wouldn't be here hitting my keyboard typing this entry today, thank you Mak and a very happy birthday.

If i could, I'd give you the garden that you always wanted, the kitchen that you always dreamed of, I'd give you a lotsa things but i couldn't just yet. InsyaAllah...with your prayer, not so long after this.

Semoga mak dipanjangkan usia, dengan kesihatan dan kecergasan untuk terus beribadah dan melihat kebahagiaan anak-anak yang menjadi kebahagiaan mak juga...i love you muahs.

So, people, do not take the people around you for granted. The closest sometimes the most forgotten. Sometimes, tomorrow might be just too late. I’ve been following this blog since it was introduced by another blog that I silently followed. Since then, its among the few (and the number has been growing although at a very slow pace) that I’ve been following. And recently they have been invited by Oprah too. Watch the video from the show.

Easter lunch date

2009-04-13T15:51:00.002+08:00

Yeay..dah pon makan di Delifrance Bangi...
Saya sangat suke...

Nice, cozy and yummy!

Sandwich oh sandwich.

2009-04-09T09:52:00.004+08:00

[source: www.vkeong.com]

I love sandwich. Ada sape nak belanje? Tengah teringin nih....I usually have cravings for Subway sandwiches during the fasting month and during my pregnancy, the first one at least. I remembered that i bought them in Coventry during one of the fasting month there, right after class. That time we were car-less, I commuted by bus to and fro to Uni. However, my husband didn’t really fancy sandwich for breaking fast because his reaction that day was not like the usual when we had our Subway treats once in a while. Oooo I love their parmesan’s bread, and the range of vegetables that they offer, and of course the meat. I must have Salami, the B.M.T. hmm nyummeh, although I also like seafood.

Since we got back to Malaysia, our trip to Pusat Bandar Damansara Subway’s outlet could actually be counted by fingers. The reason might be because it is just too far for us. However, my love for sandwich is not limited to Subway’s. I used to frequent Delifrance during my UM years. I think I have not been to any of Delifrance outlets for ages. Fret not dear Bangi-an sandwich lover because now Bangi have one! Yippee! Yet, I am still waiting for the chance to visit it, coz me and my hubby’s schedules are just so tight during the weekends. Sigh! Bile lah dapat pegi ni…kang haku gi sorang2 baru tau! Oh ye, btw it is located at seksyen 9, very near to the Petronas there. Silelah melawat.

Selain itu, I also like to make our own. The Picnic Basket shop offers variety of delicious and premium frozen meat slices so that your sandwiches would be just like the Subway’s or Delifrance or any shop-made sandwiches at all. I have tested their turkey slice and chicken slice. Both are yummeh. I was told that the products were prepared for export, so the quality is guaranteed, its premium meat and not just fats and its HALAL! I sandwiched ‘em between slightly toasted bread, sliced ‘em to bits and throw in my version of fettuccine alfredo and even in my vegetable soup. It is just handy to have ‘em in your freezer. Eh…promo pulak…ni promo free ni, tapi why not kalau dapat membantu sesame usahawan bumi seagama and oh i don't mind discounted items too. So people, look for the shop in Seksyen 3 Tambahan!.

Of abang and toilet trainings...

2009-04-08T09:28:00.001+08:00

When he grows up and if he found this blog, I hope he will not be mad at me for telling people about it..sorry ye abang…;). Apa lagi mami nak citer kalau bukan pasal anak-anak mami.

My soon-to-be 5 y.o. son finally off-diapers just recently (thank goodness for XL sized diapers), maybe since a couple of months back. Of course there were occasional events of wetting his bed and our king-sized-fit-for-all-four-of-us bed followed by some cries and me (or papa if i was attached with adik mengempeng) membebel tgh-tgh malam.

But lately, berkat doa sebelum tidur and midnight toilet trainings (which involves mami kejut or dukung dia pegi bilik air to pee, and also followed by some cries and membebel as well…), now he can wakes up on his own when he feels the urge to go.

Despite that, yesterday was a total different story. Both of us diligent parents were downstairs doing some school work and me trying to catch up on desperate housewives. We heard he called for papa through our cheap-skate car boot baby monitor. We thought he must have wet our bed, because he was sleeping on it before I went down after putting my baby girl to sleep. Papa went up and got down a few seconds after. I asked why? He went straight to the bathroom and came out with a mop in his hand…he took off his pant and peed next to the reading table!..i can sense that papa sounds angry but trying to hold it down…I just smiled but only in my heart and said…jgn marah dia, mengigau tu….but even after papa had sent the mop back to the bathroom downstairs and went back upstairs, my son’s cries still has not stopped and got even louder…haih..terpaksa la mami abiskan keje sikit-sikit lagi and went upstair to calm him and put him back to sleep asap so that not to discturb and wakes adik up pulak. Of course with some tactics that papa doesn’t know how, soon after mami was there with him, he went back to sleep….sleep walking is one thing, sleepwalking and then pee at the wrong place is another! Abang…abang…

cupcake craze

2009-03-30T15:52:00.002+08:00

I am a sweet toother. I love to bake. I love to watch cooking shows. Kenwood or kitchen aid mixer as well as rubine built-in oven are in my wish list (among others..like a milano blahnik sandal and OiOi baby bags..and maxis 3G iphone...anyone???)

Last Sunday, I (literally) dragged my husband and kiddos to the curve just to pay a visit to Cupcake chic. We ended up buying a half dozen which cost us (or my husband? I can’t really recall) RM25.00.

Verdicts (from hubby and bibik and my humble self). I can bake those cupcakes myself. Nothing specials but the name that they gave to each cupcakes like…red velvet..some chinos whatever. Owh yeah..and pretty face, they came in pretty box with specially designed placeholder that has two inlets for your fingers to take out the cakes…that is so cool, really thoughtfully engineered!.

But hey, it’s good (the shop I mean) because you can just drop-in and get nice cupcakes whenever you feel like it without having to order (online) and wait to get your much-needed-desserts.

Anger management

2009-03-26T15:45:00.002+08:00

And yet another entry…ha ha ha. Nora if you read this, please don’t report to Dr Baba ok. This is a sign of a person who has helluva work to do but procrastinate or simply lazy…

After the second child I thought things will change but I am still disappointed. With myself that is. I am really bad…really (well I know there are worst…) but I just wish I am more patient and softer and really, just more patient.

I am a very impatient mom. I scream at my son. Adik is still safe. Ok. I’ve improved a bit since bibik is around, less chores at home, less stress. Adik didn’t get it from me…yet. But abang has endured the screaming and yelling since he was just 2++ I think. I couldn’t help it. I got angry very easily. My son he’s not the naughty type, he is quite ok actually, but sometimes I just couldn’t cope with him being a child. You know, the usual nagging and sometimes tantrums. So screaming to him is much better than spanking him right? Last time, I always broke the clothe-hanger as I used it to let my steam off to the floor. I don’t hit him, at least not with stuff but my bare hand tu adalah…sikit2 kat kaki or his butt.. Well, its not like screaming screaming. Its more like very very high-pitched lecturing voice! But still, I regret using that high tone voice at him Memang tak hikmah langsung! I have yet to try the time out tactic. Taktau lah menjadi ke tak. Kadang-kadang tu cakap kat dia macam dia tak dengar ke tak paham ke…haku pun tak paham….

I really need to attend some anger management in child discipline course or drink some magic potion to cure me. Help.

images from hp since jan 2009

2009-03-25T18:48:00.000+08:00

Yuna Dan Sebenarnya

2009-03-24T13:34:00.003+08:00

oh bulan
enggan melayan diriku lagi
pabila
airmata membasahi pipi
dah lagu lagu di radio
seolah olah memerli aku
pabila
kau bersama yang lain

adakah perasaan benci ini
sebenarnya cinta
yang masih
bersemadi untukmu
dan sebenarnya ku mengharapkan
disebalik senyuman mu itu
kau juga
merindui aku

ku enggan
berpura pura ku bahagia
ku enggan
melihat kau bersama si dia
oh ku akui cemburu
mula menular dalam diri
pabila
kau bersama yang lain

pabila kau merenung matanya
ku rebah
jatuh ke bumi
disaat kau benar benar mahu pergi
seperti
ku bernafas dalam air

**thank you apache7 from imeem

berpesan-pesanlah walau satu ayat...

2009-03-23T17:35:00.003+08:00

teringat pulak hadith tu...

tadi waktu kelas ngaji dapat tazkirah se-das...

peringatan kalau waktu wudhu'...ustazah kata jangan main jirus je dengan air paip, mentang-mentang air free, tapi mesti diratakan dengan tangan...sebab kan ke hukumnya meratakan air ke seluruh muka dsbnya...lepas tu kalau kat shopping complex ke mana, mercik pulak air orang sebelah dalam air tadah kita nak sapu muka tu, dah jadi air musta'mal...kena hati-hati ye kawan-kawan...

memang insaflah aku mengenangkan berapa banyak wudhu' yang tak sempurna, patut solat pun tak sempurna...ustazah siap baca lagi ayat quran yang kata ada neraka khas untuk orang yang leka dalam sembahyang ni...umang ai...insaf insaf...

these speaks louder...

2009-03-22T19:18:00.007+08:00

my first trial on sugarpaste

zoo negara trip...

i remembered i told my father once, people now in some situation describe yellow as a loud color...and he was surprised with the awkward adjectives...anyway my point is...what was my point?

just enjoy these pictures lah...as promised.

of last week

2009-03-18T09:18:00.003+08:00

darn
my laptop decided to hang yesterday
and the draft that i had prepared for this post
gone
just like that.

itulah dia bahana kerja dgn komputer nih
these days we depended so much on machines
i attended Latex training last Friday
it was cool
it should be less hassle to format and everything
than Microsoft Words
provided the styles are available
Gaya UKM style belum ada ya
so go figure folks!
programmers out there
sila ambil perhatian ;)

ok. last week.
it was a very tiring week for me
anak dara tu kena diarrhea
since Tuesday wee hour of the morning around 2-3 am
runny stools and vomiting
haiya.

morning came.
we visited our panel doctor.
she said to monitor her 24h
if not subside
must come again so that
she can write a letter
for hospitalization purpose
NO-NO.

she was active as usual
but eat less
asked for water more than usual
(which is good!!!)
no more vomiting
but the diarrhea was still there
Thursday i went to school as usual
albeit being lethargic
dukung anak malam-malam buta
sebab perut dia tak selesa
holding her close to me
and rock her to sleep
comforts her
i guess.
tu lah kerja mak-mak kan???

Friday noon,
bibik called reporting adik
vomited three times
rushed back home
only to find she was
dancing and thumping her legs
to the music
with her cousin.
ha ha ha.

then we visited annur specialist
doctor said
she is supposed to be warded
but since she looked active
and i managed to convince the doctor
that she drank a lot of water
doctor said ok
monitor her within 24h

alhamdulillah
she is now ok
without having to be warded.
but she missed
Saturday
when i took abang
to zoo negara
as a part of her playgroup activity
the end of his playgroup.

despite mami being too tired
the whole week
pegi jugak
pasal kalau dah janji
dgn anak teruna ni
naya je kalau nak cancel.
we had fun though.

will post pictures later!

then Sunday.
ha ha ha
the climax of the week.
belum habis lagi cerita this one week

mami attended cupcake deco class
with the wizard wiz!
check out photos
here and here!

i will put up some too...maybe. he he he. a bit later though.

phew. thats one week story.
gtg now.

the peri-peri chicken!

2009-03-12T14:40:00.006+08:00

suddenly i have this crave over Nando's chicken. their chicken are grilled just nicely to perfection, and ooh i love the peri-peri sauce. my choice would be chicken breast grilled with lemon and herbs, and eaten with a hot peri-peri sauce...owh yummeh! plus, they have bottomless drinks...innit great?

the nearest outlet to my neighborhood is in Alamanda Putrajaya. the outlet just opened quite recently...sambil makan-makan boleh layan tengok air pancuran kat luar...then you can complete your meal of the day with yummeh-licious dessert just across the outlet...big apple donuts!

anyway, nando's also brings back memories of us in Coventry. if we have extra budget that month, we would treat..err well my husband would treat us lunch there coz Coventry's outlet serve halal chicken!!! i was impressed by the deco of the restaurant there, really a cozy place. and they also serve bottomless yoghurt if i am not mistaken, or you are entitle to one cup of it when you ordered a meal...either one la...long time already...it has been almost 5 years! OMG, it felt just like yesterday!

and in the Coventry's outlet, they have nice couches to rest your heavy ass and tummy after you dine! owh i was really fat during my 1st pregnancy!

hooked to the internet

2009-03-11T09:55:00.003+08:00

despite having no rigid time, my working days (or shall i say schooling days? because am a student currently and i go to school instead to office, well whatever) start quite early because i have to send my son to school which start at 8 am. so after holding my 15 mo. baby for awhile (at my mom's and my son's school is just in her compound area), i usually head to school and arrive usually before 8.30ish.

but most of the time, my work, i mean real beneficial work that contribute to my thesis?..does not start until a couple hours later!!!

why? because I'm hooked to the internet. i browse to know other people's business first before i start mine. what a waste of time right!!! sometimes, it is better when the network is down, so that i can start down to work straight away...*sigh!

and apparently this i was not lonely with this problem...i googled life without internet...and guess what? Results 1 - 10 of about 66,300,000 for life without internet. (0.15 seconds)

but i do know few people who does not be affected by no connection problem...my dad, my brothers..among others...cannot be bothered at all...good for them..hah hah.

if you are reading this, am sure you are too!

i don't think its gingivitis...

2009-03-06T11:06:00.003+08:00

GINGIVITIS...that was what the Doc said when i visited her yesterday...but i don't think so because it was not on my gum...it is very painful since its on my mouth muscle or close to it, i think...and it makes swallowing even the saliva very painful...it on other area that i don't know what to call it...

so i googled and found out about this very useful site.

Stenson's Duct-- The opening of the duct of the parotid saliva gland is called Stenson's Duct. Everyone has two of them. They are located on the inside of each cheek beside the upper molars (back teeth). They can be felt with the tip of the tongue as small "flaps" of cheek mucosa ("skin") running from the back to the front of the mouth, about a half inch long and about even with the chewing surfaces of the top back teeth. Unless they become infected they are difficult to see, so I have provided two images. They tend to have a bluish tint which is sometimes more easily seen than the actual tissue flap. One, or upon rare occasion, both of these can become infected, in which case they may manifest as swollen, red and sore bumps in the same location. This is most likely to happen when saliva flow is reduced from its normal levels, often due to prolonged usage of decongestants and antihistamines or other drugs which cause dry mouth. Infection of Stenson's duct is another example of a retrograde infection in which normal oral bacterial flora ascends up the duct because too little saliva is descending from the parotid glands into the mouth. The usual treatment is a course of antibiotics (generally penicillin or Zithromax).

i got antibiotics alright but it was not any of the two...it is called Flagyl...at least that what was written on the packet.

"OMG not that act mami"

2009-03-03T09:54:00.003+08:00

my daughter will immediately sway her body left to right sometimes to and fro when she hears music that she likes...not just songs, sometimes even the zikr.

yesterday while waiting for my oven-baked chicken to be ready for our dinner, i asked my son to do his kumon. their ikea table is just beside the tv, and adik, my daughter, mestilah menyibuk sekali with us at the table.

on the tv was my exboyfriend wedding, a german movie showing on astro. saje je bukak dah tak tau apa nak tgk. bored with political dramas on the news. tetiba klua pulak lagu its "raining man...hallelujah...its raining man"...apa lagi adik terus joget...

ha ha ha. mami pun sang along and joined in with my hands pointing upwards...cucuk langit act laaa...then my son said " mami, jgn la nari...(don't dance mummy)" with one eyebrow raised i asked "nape? buruk ke? (why? is it ugly?)"...my very polite son said " taak, pening abang...(no, it just made me dizzy)".

hmmmm.

anniversary...

2009-02-25T11:45:00.004+08:00

a friend called and ask about what i always do
to celebrate our wedding anniversary...
she said both her and
her husband totally forgot
about it the previous year.
so she was adamant to have
or do something special this year.

ha ha ha. me was not the right person
to ask question as such.

of course i dreamed of getting surprises
in any form...
but of course it remains as dreams lah...:P

as i remembered
we only celebrated twice.

once right after we got back from the uk.
dinner at Marriot Putrajaya...i think.

the latter was just recently
together with all the clan+bibik
it was lunch, not dinner.
just like the usual eat-out
but at quite-a-special place...
so how do you celebrate your anniversaries?

children education as i fancy it...

2009-02-18T18:51:00.004+08:00

i send my going-to-be 5 y.o son to Kumon.

****okay..i understand your reactions..."its too early, i am stressing the kid, expecting too much..yadda yadda yadda****

but really, i believe in the philosophy of the center, which is to instill the discipline, the routine, the life skill into the children, apart from learning and exercising their Math or English or both subjects. not to score highest in class or get straight A's every time.

(of course i fancy abang to take up statistics and hafal quran at the same time while adik a sociologist or psychologist or educationist...ha ha ha...not engineering! too boring. i'm stuck with it...although i kinda brighten it up a bit now by interrelating it with human engineering, they call it, or Kansei engineering or human factors etc.

but i don't expect them to always become the cream of the class, but of course as Ma put it, you'll have more options if you have good grades and it may offer all the differences.)

i was not the brightest student in my class..never since the primary years. but i did okay in all the important exams...never straight As (except UPSR)but less than 10 aggregates. academic-wise, i am ahead of all my siblings, but maybe i was just lucky and a little bit hardworking. apart from they are all boys and not the diligent type (more of the common type that you can see these days), i always play safe in many choices that i made in life. i guess i can say that my brothers chose to experience life the hard way (sometime i wish they didn't) and hopefully one day they too will succeed in life in their own special way.

and as a mother now myself, i truly feel my mom and dad. and of course i don't want my children to have to learn life the hard way too. i want them to know all the different lives that people live and appreciate theirs, and be thankful to the Creator, at the same time be sympathetic and generous to others . bottom line, i want them to be good khalifah of Allah, live life like they are going to live forever, but perform the ibadah as they are going to die tomorrow. to amar ma'ruf and nahi munkar.

its minty and chocalatey...

2009-02-09T10:53:00.003+08:00

i love it when there is reason for me to practice my baking skill...i really hope that i will get the opportunity to learn from a pro someday. last 1st Feb was a good reason since one of my close cousin got tagged...he he he. majlis tunang dia lorrr.

the theme was light blue, and the celebrated person requested a minty taste cuppies. i browsed the two available bakery suppliers in Bangi and found the mint flavoring. i envisioned a chocolate cupcake layered with chocolate fudge and topped with marshmallow frosting. i wish i have enough time to try the fondant or sugar paste..maybe next time. i have to focus on my work first ;). anyway, the box was specifically ordered from kotak2u. thank you hanif.

anyway i am more than satisfied with the result...well, the taste was good, so i think la...and the deco was quite nice for an amateurish work...friends who don't mind the not so skilled artwork but taste is delish: orders are accepted ye...tee hee...

student's life...

2009-02-05T09:32:00.015+08:00

I am going to be 32 this year and i am still a student...i think i have been a student my whole life...ok...overstatement there, not my entire life but since i was young and until now...i am still a student. They called us the post-graduate student or pasca siswazah...it sounded so oldish kan...

Of course we are learning new things everyday in our life but what i meant was being a "registered" student to some school or institution. I am not complaining though...because

it is something that i like to do...i think. I get bored really easily from mundane repetitive work at work.

Being an adult student, your time is more flexible. Wait a minute, i didn't say it is easy...only flexible, so time management is really really crucial. Further, if you are bounded by the study duration; limited by the "financial provider", yeah...do not forget, it requires money to register into an institution. You really need to plan ahead (Mr. Gantt chart's is really popular)and at each milestone of your plan, you must achieve it when the time comes, or much better, before it comes.

I have to admit that i gained a lot more than just what in the textbook when i did my master degree. During your undergraduate years, you learn to become an adult, to become useful to the society, you get to know the real world and the real people...because you meet more people from various background of different experience of life. (Personally, i have been in religious school since form 1 until form 5, so i don't have non-Malay friends from high school.)But it does not really matter to you because your main concern at that time is to get a degree, to graduate hopefully with 3 pointers. Important if you want your loan to be transferred into a scholarship; and to get good jobs with good companies...well that was what being told to us that time.

So i graduated my bachelor course, not so excellent but hey, a 3 pointer was all i aimed for, so Alhamdulillah i am thankful. When i look back, its like a dejavu really. I don't really plan my life, but i once said to myself and a friend, i will work a couple of years after graduate and then i will further my study to higher level. I was not really thinking hard that time, it was just a mere conversation. But it really happened to me...Alhamdulillah...you see, your words are doa. So be careful when you utter anything...especially bad things. Especially if you are a mother and you are talking to/ about your kids.

I got married at 26. And we kinda start our life together in a foreign land...the UK. My pursue of a master degree brought me and hubby all the way to Coventry England. It was definitely great experience for me, for both of us, and the whole lot. I got pregnant, gave birth for the first time in the hands of foreigners that do not speak our language and not the same faith with us. But that brought both my parents and in laws to that foreign land as well...Not my study though..ha ha ha. I didn't attend the convocation since i was asked to report duty as soon as i have submitted my project.

I miss the environment there. The visits to parks and places during Autumn, Spring and Summer. The experience with real snow during Winter. My classmates were mostly Asians, mostly from India, and three of us were Malaysians. I had the opportunities to visit many big industries in the UK, the Jaguar company, Mazak a robot making factory,..to name a few. That for me, are great experience, so when i talked to my students, i can visualize what is explained in the text book much clearer to them.

I didn't get to further my phD there although i have been offered a place near Robin Hood's forest. But hey, that is fated in my book. Well, i am happy where i am now, so very close to my home. As i mentioned earlier, it is not easy but it is not difficult. I think, difficult is not the right word to describe it. But it is the easiest way to describe to people,..susah. It needs very high perseverance, creative and critical thinking, muka tebal and a lot of sacrifice; money-wise, time-wise etc. My journey has not end, but i am striving hard towards it. Pray for me.

can't get away...

2009-01-22T11:31:00.003+08:00

new look...loike?? or loike???

anyway...i'm stuck with green...i tried to change to whitish girlish lighter look...

but just can't...just couldn't or wouldn't?

so??? loike???

Recession is here...so buckle up!

2009-01-19T10:05:00.002+08:00

I am clueless of what to do...all i know is that we should save more and shop less...but is it? So i google and found this link and this among others...

...more to remind myself than others really...

hajat

2009-01-16T10:14:00.002+08:00

psst...
ada hajat...nak tuka layout...tapi malas nak buat...sape-sape sudi nak tolong?

confusing me

2009-01-15T09:36:00.003+08:00

i can be so confusing sometimes, to my hubby and son that is...

------

one night after dinner,i was listening to hubby telling me about his work of that day while his preparing susu for my son...then suddenly i said.."sayang, tolong la amikkan tuk adik tu" and confusingly he said.."...i ke?"...dengan senyum kerang busuk "eh tak...i suruh iman (my son)"....

-------

while busy getting ready in the morning..."jom..jom..cepat lambat gi skolah..." "abang nanti kemaskan katil eh..."..."saya ke mami?" asked my son looking so confused because just now i asked him to hurry up as he was late for school..."eh..mami mintak tolong papa la"...lol.

i used abang, sayang and yang to both of them...ha ha ha. apa lah mami ni...they always said..

Kan dah kata

2009-01-09T01:34:00.002+08:00

kan dah kata...
si zionis tak boleh dipercaya
kenapa nak bagi muka
kan dah dibom rata-rata

kan dah kata
sekutu zionis pun sama
tapi kita suka-suka
bukan senang tak nak suka
sebab dia selindung balik tipu daya
tu sebab kita kena banyak membaca

kan dah kata
baca apa
kalau komik saje
tak jadi apa
sama sekutu zionis
suka-suka

kan dah kata
sape yang kata
yang Maha Empunya dah kata
kenapa tak baca
dah tertulis semuanya
tapi degil tak nak baca
sebok katanya
aii update facebook boleh aje
tu lah kite manusia
dah kena baru terjaga
kejap aje
lepas tu balik alpa

kan dah kata
sebelum ditanya marabbuka
baca baca baca
jangan tak baca
sombonglah kita kalau tak baca
jangan hanya tinggal pesta
pesta baca-baca

berpesanlah walau satu ayat...bacalah quran setiap hari...martabatkan alquran dalam hidup kita...bukan hanya dalam bulan ramadhan atau bulan pesta baca-baca

the birthday photos

2009-01-04T12:09:00.001+08:00

2009 - another new year

2009-01-02T13:32:00.004+08:00

i told my son & bibik about new year celebration in KL and all the fireworks...and sometimes if we were lucky, we could see it from our house...from Putrajaya kot..if from my mum's house, most probably from Bukit Jalil...so much so...this year new year's eve, as usual i went to bed somewhere around 9-9.30, that's my girls sleeping time. and since she is still mengempeng...i have to go to bed too...yeah..i don't do tv anymore...tv especially at night is only when i'm lucky...sebab dia akan bergayut...and if i try to get up she will start looking for me..with her eyes shut tuh...tapi sort of crying angrily lah...and my isya' is usually late at night usually 3am..eh a.m. bukan p.m. daaaa...

anyway the new year celebration for some people is so jahiliyyah...

news about our teenagers, beliawan2 harapan negara from the paper is really troubling these days...i read somewhere from Saidina Ali if i was not mistaken (please correct me if i am wrong) has said that the success of a country lies on her young people...so government...please look at our young people and do something...really really do something about it and do not just look at the surface or counting on the statistics only..please.

**************

yesterday, the 1st of January 2009, we attended my hubby cousin's wedding at Putrajaya. while waiting for the pengantin to arrive, me and two of my hubby's cousins were talking about new year resolutions...both are mothers of many kids...and their resolutions are all about losing weight/ tak nak makan nasi and minum air masak??? i said ...i have no new year resolution..and straight away kena tembak...this morning i heard Dr Fadzillah Kamsah said, people who has not resolution has not mission or vision in life..erk. hello??? i don't mean that..(of course i didn't have the chance to atually defend myself lah kan///after all i was the youngest among the three..so takleh la tunjuk pandai sangat...perlukah???)

so my uttered-silently-deep-inside-my-head defence ... i think new year resolution is just a cliche...i felt that nowadays...new year resolution has becoming like a "fake campaign" or just "aesthetic" or more like a motto...i have plans, milestones even, for this year of course...insyaAllah, a thesis to be completed and submitted followed by a successful viva, travel to and visit the Blessed & Honored, Holy city for us, committed in the halaqah alquran and the 3 month strategy, committed with son's kumon classes, more bonding time with nucleus and bigger family...among others...overall to be/do better than 2008.

so people..do you have new year resolution???

********************

psst...our 5th anniversary is tomorrow...3rd January.

Apartment to Let

2009-01-02T13:25:00.002+08:00

Seventh floor, overlooking Sg. Long golf course
Green Acre Park Condominium
Bandar Sg. Long Kajang 43000 Selangor

1000++sqft 3 rooms, wet and dry kitchen with kitchen cabinet

Rate: RM700 ono.

Interested?? please hola us at ezuan at cempaka dot com dot my or leave a comment to this post.

Thanks.

The celebration & Confetti cupcakes

2008-12-24T12:14:00.006+08:00

last nite i had plenty of ideas to write here but all my body aches and too tired after days of many stages of preparing for the party yesterday...poyo kan many days but in small steps like Tuesday preparing the caramel & jell-o, than early morning Wednesday the cuppies and so on..macam nak kawenkan anak...it took days so that i don't have to ditch school prior to the day, and me & bibik don't have to juggle between cooking and fulfilling the kids needs of attentions and etc.

all in all, this poyo mother felt so pleased with the whole thing...the guests that are important to us & the kids were all there...the birthday princess was happy albeit being sick plus mild diarrhea, the brother was superbly happy for having friends to play with him in the pool...not once but in two sessions; noon and evening.

no pictures have been uploaded so..showing-off has to wait.

anyway, as i promised the recipe of the cupcake which i also assembled to become the birthday cake is as below.

I got the recipe from here but for your ease, just click fullpost;

Funfetti Cupcakes
1/2 cup milk
3 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp butter, soft
2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a measuring cup, whisk together milk, egg whites and extracts. Set aside
In the bowl of an electric mixer (or a large bowl if you prefer to work by hand), combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir to combine. Cut in butter with the paddle attachment at low speed (or cut in by hand), until mixture is coarse and sandy. Add milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape sides of bowl and continue beating for 20-30 seconds. Stir in sprinkles.
Divide batter evenly into prepared tin. Bake for for 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.
Makes 12.

Marshmallow Frosting
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large egg whites
1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk sugar, egg whites, 1/3 cup water, light corn syrup, and cream of tartar in large metal bowl to blend. Set bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch simmering water). Using hand held electric mixer, beat on medium speed until mixture resembles soft marshmallow fluff, about 4 minutes.
Increase mixer speed to high and beat until mixture is very thick, about 3 minutes longer. Remove bowl from over simmering water. Add vanilla extract and continue beating until marshmallow frosting is completely cool, about 5 minutes longer.

When cool, frost cupcakes and add more sprinkles, if desired.

Eleanor Dini is 1

2008-12-24T11:57:00.004+08:00

Today is her birthday and she has some temperature this morning..very mild but still...hmm the wild pool party is tomorrow and i hope she'll be okay by then.

"happy birthday dearie love...
mami doakan kejayaan anak mami dunia akhirat
dan terpelihara dari kejahatan dunia akhirat...amiiin"

It is supposed to be a small party but the guest list seems to grow everyday.."aiman pun datang jugak kan mami..." and "kawan abang yang lagi satu tu..."...and.."papa, frens saya sikit la..ramai girl"..so how can u not invite them kan???after all they are your friends..tapi kalau ajak dia..kena ajak dia..and that's how my list will become longer and longer...

so does my menu list..ha ha ha...anyway this morning i have made a real nice confetti cupcake..i will share the recipe later..now i've gtg..ada kelas. later peeps.