Been a while

Whenever I need some inspiration to uplift my spirit high I turn to Reader's Digest. Feel good stories are abundance in there.

By the way, its good to be back where I'm good at. Rambling that is.

My new love interest

Nice eh?

Just got it last weekend. A gift from dear hubby. Thanks to him for being generous and kind enough to buy me this cool gadget. Baik ada makna tuh haha! 

My old smartphone has decided to become obsolete after 2 solid years of providing good service. She was such an excellent and conscientious Personal Assistant. 

No wonder they are called smartphones. They look and work smart. 

Tale of a bantal bucuk

any takers for this item? sold for 10 ringgit...hey there's a sentimental value attached to it so that explains the steep price tag :P

It (pic above) once belonged to this girl named Kak Ngah. It was her most sayangable favorite item since she was a toddler. It had served unconditionally as her sleeping aide, her best buddy, her pacifier, her punching bag (when she throws tantrum) and as play-doll in the absence of a doll. I don't really understand how she managed to picture it as a doll but she did anyway. Some imagination that kid has.

I somehow believe this strong attachment with bantal bucuk has some connection with the feeling of insecurity and a sense of emotional comfort for its owner. Its a great soothing device for a dispirited soul be it young or old. And its hereditary, (the attachment to a bantal bucuk) being passed down from a generation to a generation. In this case, Kak Ngah got it from me!

I started to develop neediness on bantal bucuk when I was into my teens. Back then, it was cool and trendy for girls to have one or multiples in their bedroom. Its a must-have accessory I tell ya. And my bantal bucuk was more fashionable (retro?) and colorful with flowery designs and smelled naturally good too. You don't really get to see all those "maps" all over the place unlike my daughter's bantal bucuk. Lo and behold if she caught me trying to put her precious bantal bucuk in the washing machine. Do that and she'll bawl for hours on end till I surrender. I tried to smell it once and I felt like puking bile coz it was that bad. Not to mention the color changes from spotless white to yucky yellowish that I swear it could turn crystal clear water to teh-tarik look in split seconds. Awesome.

Well, to make an obviously long and tedious boring story short, the bantal bucuk that has faithfully accompanied Kak Ngah for such a long long time has finally been neglected, abandoned, ditched or whatever you call  it when you don't need that person/thing anymore. Such a cruel fate at the hand of an 11 year old heartbreaker girl. Sob sob.

She seems to no longer need it though it still lurks around the house, sometimes under the sofa or between the sofa cushion, sometimes under her bed for God knows how long it has been down there collecting dust, sometimes stucked behind the door or crumpled in the dirty laundry basket and wherever it wants to be lah. It never stays in one place at a time. It travels a lot lately. Macam dendang perantau gitu. Today maybe in Kak Ngah's room and tomorrow maybe under the dining table or on the fridge top who knows. Come to think of it, I seriously think that bantal bucuk has a life of its own! 

Macam dalam cerita anak patung yang berhantu tuh. Penama dia, Chucky?! Yikes!


P/S: To this day I still have my bantal bucuk and I'm happy to report that it has been with me for more than 20 years. During those time only the pillow cover keeps changing but the content is still the same and my bantal bucuk had on several occasion shared some lovely threesome together with the husband and I. Oopss nothing kinky of that sort ok he he :P

Carpe Diem if you can

I just checked my foursquare check-ins on facebook recently and I realized to my horror that the world revolves around me is less than 50km radius wide! Its like living black and white  in Pleasantville (its the movie in case you don't know what it is..) back and forth going the same route and doing the same  mundane routine over and over again. Sigh.

What a boring dull life! 

A long time ago, I wrote about the 50 things I wanna do before I die. Some of the things I wish to do then I had accomplished them now and to tell the truth I had never ever thought of doing it before because of the "malas" attitude and also fear factor. Now that I had conquered the fear (not entirely yet hehe), I should be able to reach other things in life if I put my mind and soul to it. Its possible to succeed your dreams and aspirations if you are really serious about it and stick to it.

The 50 things I wanna do back then in 2007 (see list). 

1. perform the ultimate pilgrimage for muslims - the haj
2. visit the 7 continents and wonders of the world
3. learn skateboarding or surfboarding (either one)
4. be the 1st tourist astronaut to visit Mars
5. meet oprah winfrey
6. learn 1 or 2 foreign languages
7. learn scuba-diving 
8. learn to write feature-writing and become a good columnist
9. treat myself to an expensive spa treatment
10. attend andrea bocelli's performance of a lifetime
11. learn to bake cakes
12. do a duet with Josh Groban
13. sponsor education for underprivileged kids
14. do braces for my teeth
15. do lasik surgery for my eyes
16. do a major makeover
17. do a liposuction
18. buy a bigger house
19. get my writing published in a form of a book!
20. start my own business that I enjoy doing
21. donate money to charity
22. sponsor medical bills for people who can't afford them
23. take a self defense course
24. take pottery classes
25. learn to play 1 or 2 musical instrument
26. get a supporting role in a Steven Spielberg movie
27. do exercise seriously and not just talking about it!
28. grow a small but charming garden
29. read as many books that I can
30. buy an expensive dress
31. learn how to sew well
32. attend a live classical musical concert in Vienna
33. invest in a stock market and become a millionaire
34. be an inventor
35. learn how to draw and paint
36. learn how to skate on ice
37. buy my dream car
38. learn to swim and be a good swimmer
39. do skydiving feat from 30,000 feet above sea level
40. do bungeejumping
41. live in a farm somewhere in Tuscany, Itali
42. learn to fly a small plane
43. learn to ride a horse
44. go on a cruise ship
45. take up photography
46. learn bellydancing
47. be a little more kinder and compassionate
48. devote myself to a cause that I'm passionate about and volunteer for it
49. learn to appreciate my imperfections
50. do backpacking all over the world

Out of the 50 things listed above, I had done no 7, 13 (though the amount is so little huhu), 18 (Alhamdulillah for the rezeki given by Allah SWT), 27 (still doing it actively insyAllah), 29 (does reading catalogues count?) and 38 (still learning the strokes and techniques) and its still a long way to go from there. There are of course some things I will never be able to achieve even if I live to be a hundred but what the heck, you'll never know what you're getting at. Life is like a box of chocolate so says Forrest Gump.

(pic snagged from google)

The survival skill everyone should learn..

I wrote in my previous entry that I've started to learn swimming late last year and I'm still getting the hang of it. I can now swim but I still need to practise my strokes and techniques in order to become a better swimmer. Here's 12 reasons why you should take up swimming. 

Article courtesy of Health Assistant website.

We all know that it takes years of practice to be likeMichael Phelps who is collecting golds in the Olympics and breaking world records, but like Michael Phelps we too can enjoy swimming as our sport and benefit from it specially in our health. So we should start a sport like swimming. Here are 12 reasons why swimming is good for our health:

1. Swimming supports our health, boosts our immune system - The water temperature, which is in all cases of swimming training, lower than the average body temperature of humans which should be 36 to 37degrees Celsius. The difference in temperature loads the work rate of the cardio-vascular system. With the ability to adapt to those temperatures, We achieve a solid resistance to diseases, like flu and colds. It also influences our breathing (the colder the water the harder the breathing), which is a health benefit especially for patients (or swimmers) with asthma problems.

2. Improve Breathing -The water pressure, which is exerted onto the human body (skin) increases with greater depth of the water.This effect will influence the blood circulation through the human body and improve one's breathing as this pressure concerns the lungs.

3. Swimming is a sport for rehabilitation of injuries, and after operations, as the special gravity condition in water allows people to execute movements with lesser body weight

4. Stress Management - We are experiencing a more and more hectic daily life and swimming supports the relaxation and recovery, which leads to a more balanced lifestyle

5. It's part of the physical education and water safety - In schools swimming is a part of curriculum. Everyone who wants to Scuba Dive or do White Water Rafting has to be able to swim.

6. It's a social sport - we can swim with friends or family enjoy the water and bond with your friends and love ones.

7. Swimming is a full body exercise - It tones our entire muscle spectrum and it works as our fitness.

8. Job requirement - Some jobs require the know-how to swim.

9. Low risk of injuries - It is a sport where, if we are a beginner or an expert, there is very little risk of injuries.

10. It's an affordable sport. - specially if you are near the beach

11. It's a substitute to other sports - especially to running as it trains one's upper body.

12. It's a competitive sport - Master's, Open Water, Triathlon.

Once bitten twice shy

What is the most dreaded thing that could happen to a Standard One kid at school? Yes, that's right - tertukar kasut sekolah!

A couple of days ago after the school bell rang, signalling the end of the school's morning session, I saw little B walked towards me and the first thing he told me (nonchalantly) was that his shoes got mixed up with someone's else. I asked him what happened and he said there was a dental check-up going on and they had to take off their shoes in the Bilik Kesihatan during check up and that's where the shoes got mixed up. Apparently he knew they weren't his shoes and he had no choice but to wear it. He felt uncomfortable wearing them coz the shoes were slightly bigger than his feet and a little worn out. He had no idea who took his shoes. 

The next day after sending him off to his classroom, I took the arduous task of asking every one of his classmates if they had their shoes switched. As expected none of the kids confess. I wasn't sure if they understood what I was saying or they must have freaked out seeing me harassing everyone in the classroom with my repeated questions of "Ada tertukar kasut dengan B tak?" and whenever I see the same particular brand  of my son's shoes I would take a closer inspection and stare at those kids' eyes and they just shook their heads off weakly without a single word murmured. Those poor kids must have thought that little B's mom is one annoying terrifying lady! 

After some tedious interrogations, I finally realized that he is not getting his shoes back and he's stucked with them for the rest of the year. Even after politely requesting his class teacher to make announcement, none of his classmates ever going to own up. Maybe the kid who unwittingly or deliberately took his shoes must have liked them so much that he or she decided to keep them. Oh well so be it then.

Luckily, little B has another pair of shoes. So the first thing I did after this incident, I took a black marker pen and wrote his name with bold capital letters on the inner lining of his shoes and on the outer sides. I just hope that the markings won't fade so soon.

Euphoria

For the first time in my life today I am left alone in the house all morning. The husband has gone off to work and the kids are all in school except Kak Ngah. Kak Ngah is having a hockey tournament in Sekinchan and won't be back home till late evening. Kak Long has a Merentas Desa practise at school the whole morning and will be back before noon and Little Bee is in the morning session. Its disturbingly quiet and lonely.

I'm getting a dose of temporary empty nest syndrome and I'm enjoying every little bit of it. 

Yeah some ME-TIME at last! 

pic snagged from google

The swimming beauty

Hahaha tajuk posting yang tersangatlah poyo. 

The kids and I have been learning to swim since mid December last year and since then I have been practising relentlessly to perfecting my technique and what not. Macam lah nak masuk sukan olimpik ngeh ngeh! 

Seriously, swimming is so addictive plus its also a good full-body workout. If I had known that swimming is this fun, I'd have learnt it a long time ago. Blame it on my lifelong fear of deep water. Now that I can swim confidently though not so fast and smooth yet since my breathing techniques and flutter kicks still needs to be improved in order to achieve longer stamina in the water, I am now a leisure swimmer yayyy!

Take that y'all! *sangat eksyen punye mode hehe*

yours truly sedang khusyuk berenang huhu...

Kak Long and Kak Ngah racing with each other...

Back to school

muka blur or is it ngantuk masa dengar taklimat..

Little B's first day at school went smooth. There was no over the top drama from him (pheww!) and he was so cooperative. Good boy! It was also the first time that he drank Ovaltine for his breakfast. He has never liked creamy or sugary drinks except for water only. Caya lah anak ibu sorang nih hehe!

Spending half a day in school is so tiring okeh! This stake-out activity will cease tomorrow hopefully and by then Little B should be OK with his new surroundings.