Sookie Stackhouse Series

I first watched True Blood but then it becomes a tad unwatchable after Season 3 I think. Sookies just seems a lot whiny to me. Someone tells me to try to read the books because Sookie Stackhouse is a much more acceptable heroine in the books. That is usually the case pon kan. 

Kurang 3 books, this is a 13 series books. Took me a year to finish all. 

So the novels series by Charlaine Harris ; The Southern Vampire Mysteries basically chronicled Sookie's life. I would say the timeline from she first meet Bill to the last book event is maybe give or take 5 years? Around book 6 or 7, I was thinking, damn Sookie have a lot of near death events. I think towards the end, even Charlaine Harris thinks it had become a tad bit ludicrous. 

I don't feel like posting a synopsis, because almost everybody knows of True Blood. I only watched the last episode of True Blood just to see how it ends, and I like how the series end. For the book, I am quite satisfied with it too. I can see also that is the only logical way to go.  

Anyway in the book I think 

- Sookie is less whinier. She don't like to talk much, if she feels fed up with it, she will just do it herself. I like it. In the series, she seems almost whiny. 

- I get her relationship with memory loss Eric in the book. In the series, it feels icky, kinda like Big icky. ( You know the movie Big, where a kid grows up overnight to be Tom Hanks, then there is one scene where he had sex. BIG ICK. )

- The earlier books were smuttier, towards the end, it becomes less smutty. I think because she had also experienced a lot, so towards the end it is all been there done that. 

- I wish we had given a look into Faerieland. 

- Love how she wrote the vampires have a cool monarchy system going on for hundred of years, which the humans are oblivious. 

- Love also that most of the relationship Sookie have with her friends and the town and in the end, they all got her back. 

I love the books, though it does gets a bit redundant at the end. Sookie is in some sort of danger, manage to be saved by someone's help. Though it is unfair to say she always relied on someone help. Sometimes she managed to save herself. Sometime she saved others. But you can get a Sookie fatigue towards the end. Which is why, I always read some other books in between reading the book series. I may end up hating Sookie if I don't do that. 

But I enjoyed the book, it is well written. While it may not be complex or insightful but you do have a lot of fun reading it. Way better than some chick lits. Got a healthy dose of girl power, romance and relationship ongoing. The mythology of all the creatures had been setup nicely and not too boneheaded or out of this world. The faery is the most mysterious of them all, but I like it. 

And to close of the series, she also wrote After Dead. In After Dead, it listed if not all, but most of the beloved characters that we come to know and love in Sookie Stackhouse series, on their updates in life many years afterwards. I love that she decided to write this. Feels like a tribute to the fans that continue to read on. She knows the fans love it and this book is specially for the fans and it also brought a firm close lid on who Sookie ends up with. It is kinda bittersweet, but it does feel right. 

I am looking forward to read her other books. I had started already buying the other series. Usually I will kumpul it at the Big Bad Wolf Sale, because they always have Charlaine Harris series there. 

Hmmm.. I haven't finish a book for the longest time. Been busy. I was trying to finish the House of the Seven Gables, but it is so not a page turner. Been trying to take up some other books in between, but not able to finish all. 

My handy dandy helper

I mentioned last birthday, I requested for the most unromantic request. A robotic vacuum cleaner. 

Frankly I am tired of vacuuming everyday and feeling bits and pieces at my feet whenever I walked in the house. 

With 2 toddlers and 4 cats, the house can accumulate quite a pile of dirt and dust. So masa Maybank treats fair tahun lepas , I remembered I was absolutely transfixed at the Neato showroom. Tapi time tu macam malas nak beli sebab I don't know anything about the product yet and to throw down a lot of money on a whim is a little scary. 

So my birthday came, and I insisted to have a vacuum. Robotic vacuum cleaner would be more beneficial to my well being than a diamond. And make cleaning the house chores a bit faster . Anything that lessen house chores is a plus. 

So while my husband is ready to look into Ecovacs , I remembered that Neato booth and I remembered how I like that it is the 'smart' type of robot vacuum. My requirements goes like 

1. It can somewhat scan the room and run through the room. 

2. Can go up a few inches to vacuum carpet because everybody have carpets. 

3. Can vacuum corner reasonably because usually that is where the dust lies 

Why I choose the Neato? 

1. It fulfilled the above. 

2. Reasonably price. 

3. Great reviews. I always scoured reviews in the internet, and for a lot of the other brand it is kinda 50-50. But for Neato, it is almost overwhelmingly good. 

4. A clear place where to send if need for repairs. Need to make sure all the spareparts can easily be obtained kan. 

Went into Lazada to see what sort of Neato they have, because I have no idea where to buy it on a physical shop, found a few models on sale and show this particular model to my husband because it was going for under 2k at Lazada.  It is the Neato XV 11 . It is an old model, 4 years back I guess. But since it was cheap, and the reviews are good, eh why not lah.  

Neato XV-11 . Pic is from Wiki. 

The real thing. People call it ugly. I like its outdated Star Wars quality. 

So the vacuum is now in service at my home for months. 

( I have no patience to write down clear cohesive paragraph, so point form again ) . 

How do I find it? 

The good? 

1. It picked up the dirt and dust nicely. Like I said, I have 4 cats. The amount of hairball is unbelievable sometimes. I have seen cat fur rolling around the house like tumbleweeds. No more! There is some stray cat fur balls sometimes but prett ok lah. 

2. Open corner ( the one not blocked with tiny chairs or whatever, is always clean. 

3. OK battery lah. If it doesn't get stuck, it can vacuum the lower house and got back to its charging station in reasonable time. But my home not that big either. 

4. Easy display. It will show a message if the filter and dust bin is full.

It also have good manners. 

5. Scheduling . Can schedule for it to run to whatever time it pleases you. 

6. Easy to empty the dust bin.

The dust bin is a bit small, so we usually need to clean it after 3 to 4 days. But the amount of dust it picked up is amazing lah

The bad ? 

1. It can get stuck. It is not that predictable. Like usually it can goes around a chair reasonably well, but once it get stuck , it really get stuck, I will place it somewhere else, then it goes right back under the chair and start to get stuck again. I proceed to do the same again with same result! LOL. But it happened only sometimes la. Have to rearrange the furniture a bit. 

2. It sometimes persist in cleaning the same area a few times longer than other area. I have no idea why? Is it because it is way dirtier??? 

3. A bit noisy. Aziz will complain if the vacuum is running when he is watching TV. But not as loud as my old Dyson. 

4. Should have a child lock ( or i couldnt find it). During the first 2 or 3 months, Saif and Aziz were forever turning on the vacuum. Once on, Saif will cried and run to me because he thinks the vacuum is chasing him. LOL. 

Try nak bukak dust bin tu pulak. Nasib baik yang tu susah sikit nak bukak. 

Overall. Pretty good . I am quite satisfied on how it run, the house is less dusty. Cut down my vacuuming hours a lot. Have to run the old vacuum too sometimes to pick up places where the Neato might left out and the carpet. But the Neato picks up dirt and hair from carpet reasonably well too. Better than some Electrolux vacuum I had used I say. ( Dyson is best still. ) . So yes. I am satisfied with Neato. It can get stucks, but it doesn't happened often ( as long as you pick stuffs up) but overall it is better than I expected. A totally worth it birthday present. My friends say I am very practical. LOL. Maybe this year I will opt for an unpractical gift. 

Unfortunately I do not have any funny pictures or videos involving the cats! Damn it! LOL. The cats are quite wary of this moving weird thing, but they just steer clear of it. None try to chase it. Bobby did tried to pee on it. Jeez Bobby. 

One very good thing about having Neato in the house is that it forces me to pick up the kids toy and put it away every night no matter how tired I am because I don't want the Neato to get stuck. So it also forced me to tidy my house a bit. 

Edited: Change the video because I just realized it were unplayable before. So yeps... below are the Neato in action. 

Peer pressure

This morning while I am rushing here and there everywhere to get the kids into the car.

"Mommy .. Tawan2 Aziz ( *kawan in Aziz pelatness) sume ade barang tawasss, Aziz je sorang tadek" 

Aziz said this with a really mournful voice. Like it is the most unfair thing ever. 

" Haa. Tawas ?? Aziz nak ape? Aziz tadek cawan kee" 

"Bukaannn.. Aziz nak tawaass. Semua ade. Muaz ade.. Syafiq ade..." Selalu sangat nama2 tu kena petik. 

" Tawass? Mommy tak tahu lah tawas tu ape. Cuba Aziz bagitaw Mommy tawas tu macam rupa die". 

" Tawass laa Mommy. Tawas! " Super exasperated by now. 

"Ooohhh Star Wars. Haa nanti la mommy tengokkan" 

Must be the correct one, because he looks satisfied and start to put on his shoes.

Confined

So last Wednesday when I was saying how busy I was. Balik rumah ni lepas mandikan Aziz I noticed that badan die penum bintik2 merah. Chicken pox! 

Chicken pox Aziz amidst the messy home.

Aku punye la cuak kan sebab my husband is not around. So for about an hour I was just fretting. And also looking everywhere at Saif punye badan. 

It is not a good time to be out of the office. It is EA form time for Malaysia and SG and have to settle some issues quickly to meet deadline . And I was taking days off work from Thursday, but working most of the time at home. I am NOT HAPPY about it I tell you. I am on the laptop even during weekend. Aziz was lamenting why am I working all the time. I didnt even have time to play games with him. Poor Aziz. 

Anyway, it seems like Aziz have the mild one , it kinda flares up quickly and begin to dry around Saturday. My sister pon tengok and said dah no longer contagious ni on Sunday. But I still think it is better if he is at home for a couple of more days so I only send him back to school today. Lagipon semalam is swimming day. Taknak amik the risk la dulu. LOL. Nanti ade mak bapak mana2 menyumpah aku. 

Saif sampai sekarang still chickpox free. Though it is way too early to tell. He is having fever off and on again and tetiap malam I check his badan for pox mark. 

Kasik dua orang round round keliling porch dgn basikal on weekend.

On Sunday tu I mintak my sister help to babysit them because need to run errands which include bringing Brownie to the vet.

Brownie montok. 

One of the IG people once refer to Brownie as Bro-nie and somehow I felt like this is kinda suitable to him. So I called him that too. 

Anyway I noticed from last week he took forever to pee. And yang keluar is just few drops je. Had a couple of experience of this, and if its not treated can lead to death. So rase macam kenot delay gak. Naseb baik gak la ade my sis nak jaga bebudak, Pening plak pikir how to go to the vet bawak sorang berdukung, sorang berpimpim. No extra hand to carry pet carrier. 

Brownie lepas kena examined the vet  cakap dia ni ok je. Bladder takde rupa bloated or ape. And he seems to be good natured and active. 

So got some antibiotics and many other different pills. Naseb baik setakat ni die tak reti untuk scratched me to resist. I wonder why tadek easier medication to give to cats. Do you know the scratched we suffered!  Dan sembunyi ubat dalam wet food doesnt work, especially ubat cam antibiotic yg pahit, they know. 

Hoping semua get better. Quickly. 

Short Note - Busy

Busy busy busy.

Busy at work. It had been crazy, I feel like I am shouldering 5 people workloads.

Busy at home because my husband is not around for a month so that means absolutely no free time at all. The kids are slightly sick, and I am not feeling too well. Even the cats are not well. Well maybe 1 cat. Have to take Brownie to the vet this weekend.

At least I got lunch hour to watch my series. LOL. My lunch hour is spent to watch my tv series. No one can disturb that!

I am hoping by the end of the month this craziness will end.

That is what I thought last month.

Netflix and Chill

More like binge watching to the point of you feel like you have no identity of your own? 

Don't you ever feels like it? Say if I had binge watched Buffy for instance, I always feel like carving up a stake and go out to the night to patrol and make ready some sassy line for comebacks. 

So when Netflix came to Malaysia everyone is so excited. Well, everyone who loves TVs as much as I do. We subscribed and I kinda love it. 

I started with Master of None . It was ok. Funny. Not a really binge kind of series. More like, if you are feeling a little down then Master of None is a good pick me up without feeling like you had been dumbed down. Aziz Ansari brings a good point across into a package of watchable comedy. Not a bad hour spent. 

Then because I like Krysten Ritter and heard only good stuffs on Jessica Jones, so I started to watch Jessica Jones.

Again, so so good. The thing with Netflix shows are, they are good for binge watching. And Jessica Jones is so addictive. I like the angle of a dark twisty antihero superhero woman. Someone who is damaged and conflicted. I only ever seen Ritter in a comedy, so here where she balance drama, action and comedy ( Jessica Jones is sassy) she is wonderful. 

What is it about? Jessica Jones is a detective with superpowers trying to help a girl from the clutch of an evil man.  A man from Jessica past. That is the short version of the series lah. It does feel a bit graphic novel-ish, as the series is from a Marvel comic, but that is good. The world Jessica lives on is the same world that Iron Man, Captain America, Thor lives on. Post NY alien invasion attack . 

The high point of the series is the villain. Not gonna post the spoilers, but the way the mind games played out is spectacularly addictive to watch ( not as spectacular as Mr Robot, Mr Robot is a more like. WTF? spectacular). I actually went in to watch the series not knowing that Jessica Jones have superpowers. Only after it had been pointed it out then I am like.. oh ok, now I get it. Haha. 

But seriously Jessica Jones is a great show. The supporting players can be improved, but when it was just the Jessica and Kilgrave ( the main villain), it is when the show is at its height.

After finishing Jessica Jones, I am like.. eh what next. Orange is the New Black then! I was never interested to watch it, but Netflix keeps on trying to recommend it to me. So easy to click than to browse I say.

AND I AM HOOKED. So helplessly hooked. Not helping that there are 3 seasons of OITNB ( panjang sangat nak type). 

It is about Piper an upper class girl who got sent to prison because of her past crime, she helped her girlfriend (who is a drug smuggler) carry some drug money to another country. So basically the story deals with how she copes with prison life. 

And it is seriously good. And I love the diverse cast, where it is acknowledged that the people in the system flock together according to races and from there we see the life and past life of each inmate in the show. 

A show about prison can be campy or dark, but here injected with comedy, it straddled the line of drama and comedy perfectly. It feels believable and the emotions pouring out of each performance makes me feel for each and everyone of the inmate. Yes, even the one that deserved to be there. 

And this show is even more addictive than Jessica Jones. It is that good. I love how the main players are women in this show, how very little romance is in the plot. Yes, there is love ( and many are the lesbian love type). But it feels real. It feels more like a telling of relationships than romance. So I love that. And the biggest baddest flirt, is a woman. Like all the man in this show, can't hold a candle when Alex Vause smiles at you. 

I am hoping to finish this OITNB madness, and maybe take a step back from Netflix a bit so I can get back to my usual, average life and tv shows. 

Wolly gone missing.. for a while

I wonder if each of the cat is gonna gone missing at one point. I had Bobby and Kurap missing once. 

Last weekend went back to JB to attend a wedding. It was nice, the whole family ( my adik beradik) were there which is kinda rare because not everyone lives nearby. 

Usually we send the cats to the usual pet store, but not too long ago we got a flyer advertising a home boarding for cats nearby our home. So we decided to test that out.  

Sent the cats on Friday and off we went off to JB. Saturday morning to, on our way to the hotel, we received a call from the pet sitter saying that Wolly had gone missing! She is very apologetic and sounds a bit afraid , which understandable. She explained that somehow Wolly manage to get out of the cage, by squeezing herself out from the door that is not shut tightly. 

Wolly and Bobby shared the same cage. Only Wolly got out. I think Bobby is like... dude.. your funeral. So she got out and the sitter tried to find her to no avail. 

I was calm, because while she should have checked that the cage is shut tightly, I kinda understand too. And I was convinced that we are gonna find Wolly again. 

On Sunday we went back to KL and petang tu amik the other 3 cats. So the sitter and I tried to search again around her area calling out Wolly name . No Wolly. I was hoping when I got home, I would find Wolly there. 

Only found my neighbor cats having fun with their kittens there it seems. 

So many kittens

So no Wolly and we went around the neighborhood calling Wolly's name and tadek. Susah hati ok. And as for the sitter, I can see that she had put up a lot of effort to search for Wolly judging from the neighbors around feedback saying that they still havent seen my cat and she was really torn up about it. Honestly, I can't be angry. Also my Wolly is being an asshole. 

However it was Sunday night and I don't know what else I can do to find Wolly. And since I usually have to go to work early and came back quite late, susah hati gak la kan how I am gonna find the time canvassing the neighbourhood. Bobby dulu jumpa time weekend, Kurap time maghrib on a weekday. 

. So I edit the Missing Cat poster, which previously I had done for Kurap, 

Missing Cat poster that I just put on my Google Drive. I forgot sometimes how pretty Kurap was. Miss her so much. 

Ni pon pretty gak. I was almost afraid someone gonna kept her to their home forever. 

Thank you for those who shared the night and thank God that I do not need to put up the posters around, maybe God makbulkan doa but Wolly herself late at night that same Sunday, gone back to the sitter house and start mewing like crazy. Probably hungry. The next morning too, my husband picked her up. 2 hari tak keluar rumah terus kucing bertuah tu. 

She was fine. Not hurt, no bruises or cuts or claws mark, and not dirty. I suspect she was holed up in someone home because she is pretty lovable. Mengade sangat. 

Let's hope I do not need to reuse the poster again, at least for a long time. 

As for the sitter home, serik ke nak hantar lagi? I don't know. I think I might give her another chance sebab she was pretty honest and really did not give up looking for my cat. She also refused payment, and I kinda feel bad for her actually. Maybe die sendiri troma and lepas tu taknak dah accept my cats for boarding dah. LOL. 

A little update

Last night as I see Saif tottering here and there and suddenly feels like eh, I just  have to update about them, 

Aziz is now instead of playschool had started on preschool.

Still obsessed with Ultraman, a little bit less obsessed on Upin Ipin but this kinda things is seasonal. Tomorrow he may like Upin and Ipin again. 

Makan sikit je. Yesterday we bought pizza and it took him an hour to finish 1 slice. Really!

Likes to make up stories. If we asked him something, he will have some tall tales to tell us. 

Really like playing with ants. Rumah ni is pestered with ants sometimes, and if he found one, he will be like, "comel kan mummy" and put the ant on his finger and gazed at it. 

He is mostly toilet trained. Except for night. Bile tido masih lagi berpampers because when he sleeps especially for a nap mesti terbocor. But ok lah. Memula kan Aziz resist the idea of going diaperless, kenkadang nangis2 nak pakai diapers, so we introduced him to a thing called 'underwear'. Haha. His father bought him those superhero cartoons underwear so he is more excited to wear it. 

Really have to make an effort to teach him something. I macam reluctant to force ABCs and 123s to him. Tapi macam dah nak kena dah. Haha. 

Tottering here and there and everywhere. 

No longer is entranced by YouTube. Like to spend time wreaking havoc around the house, climbing the stairs, and playing with random things, especially pouring lotion and oil out of the bottle on the vanity table. 

We changed his nursery to the one nearer the house because my husband soon will be not available to pick them up and the last nursery have to pick up before 6pm which is hard. So the current nursery we have to pick up before 7pm so more doable. So Saif goes here all day and Aziz after his preschool will have a transit transport driving him to the same nursery. 

Saif is adjusting fine to the new nursery. Actually both Aziz and Saif seems to love it. 

The ummi at the nursery also said that both of them eats a lot there. Especially Saif. Saif constantly cries for food. LOL. 

Last 2 night I woke up at 4 am to find Saif playing at the vanity table trying to get his chubby little hands on to some stuffs. He is definitely more berani than his abang. Abang die kalau bangun tengah malam akan sekadar sidled up to me or bapak die. 

If he wants something he will throw a huge tantrum. Like we were in Midvalley last weekend, and were eating mee tarik. Malas nak beli extra so ingatkan nak suapkan the mee je to both kids. Aziz loves mee so no issue for him. Bile tiba Saif.. meraung2, sampai la bapaknye beli nasi ayam. Haha.

Close to his father and wants to cling to him and sometimes refused to be consoled by me. Huhu.

Kuantan Darul Bauksit

LOL.

Sorry orang Kuantan but this is what people are talking about and I had just got back from a really nice 1 day trip. There were a lot of tanah merah everywhere though, though pantai beserah don't look red.

But getting ahead of myself.

Since our office is closed at 31st Dec, so we bertolak dalam kul 10 lebih. Brekfast or late brunch at KL . Beli bekal sikit and all sets!

We reached Kuantan around 2pm and ingatkan nak makan at Hoi Yin then I google and perasan Hoi Yin open only for breakfast and lunch. 2.30 pm dah tutup. So we went straight to the hotel je la as sume dah full makan bebukan at hotel. Checked in and baring kejab .

We stayed here

A nice little hotel, except that the elevator smells like its been cleaned using used toilet paper...

A photo posted by @shammin on Dec 31, 2015 at 6:28am PST

We stayed at Mandurah Hotel at Beserah. It is pretty ok. Clean, manned by mostly local employees and nice and modern. The beach is clean and the staffs are friendly and helpful. The only downside is that bilik air pintu tak boleh tutup. Bukan rosak, but macam pintu toilet gitu, no lock . And it don't close completely so you can see what people are doing. Haha. Saif berapa banyak kali mengendap. Only ok for couple I would think. Haha.

Because it is nearly 5pm and Saif dah start restless lapar, we decided to go to one of the roadside stalls that I noticed that sells mee calong.

Doesn't look much but very tasty. Saif likes it. 

Keropok lekor pon sedap.

Also bought akok die which is sedap gak.


Then petang tu hujan kejab but we still manage  to bring the kids to play on the beach, mostly main pasir je.

Aziz and his father 

We bring the kite because memula Aziz tak excited nak pegi beach. Die kate tanak pegi kat fish. So we warmed him up with kite flying . He loves kite flying. Dan bawak layang2 ni on that day, basically lepas je terus terbang si Doraemon layang2 tu.

The hotel have a new year celebration but we malas and prefers to eat outside. It was raining that night and memula we try to go to New Horizon, penuh, then we try to see Ana Ikan Bakar Petai, but ade la tempat duduk, tapi nampak ramai orang and macam sesak. Bawak Aziz and Saif ni kenkadang rase macam senang lagi tempat yang luas kan, so we opt for Super Top which from what I read is quite ok too. So we went there sebab tempat die nampak luas and selesa.

It was a good choice. After we order tak sampai 10 mins everything dah sampai.

Sotong goreng tepung yang sedap tapi sebab banyak sangat jadi muak. 

Yang lain2

We ordered sayur kailan ikan masin, sup campor, siakap 2 rasa, udang masak cili and husband favorite telor dadar. If we were to go again, I wouldn't mind reordering all of the above except for the sup campor. It was a bit masam to my taste.

Left the kedai full , full sangat sampai later that night Aziz puked all over the bathroom hotel. Naseb baik la dalam bilik air.

Melayan Aziz makan. 

Besok tu we had breakfast at the hotel. Possibly the worst breakfast hotel I ever had. Huhu. Everything is bad, so in the end, I just had bread.

Muka budak2 masam breakfast. Aziz is contented with only sausages and Saif is ok with fruits.

Pagi tu sambung balik main pasir . They had fun for about an hour and it started raining, so we went back to the room and packed.


Makan kejab at Hoi Yin becuse mee kari die nampak delish je. And it was pretty nice. Isi banyak dan sedap.

Afterwards pergi ke Berjaya Megamall and then to rumah Iz to see her kid and furbabies.

Singgah beli the famous mango cakes afterwards at Kula Cakes . So many people in beratur and yeps, deserving of the hype. Sedap sangat. So many taste in the cheesecake. Not just cheese. Rase nak beli satu kek terus lain kali. Do not have pics here though.

Then barulah balik KL after buruk lantak at Kuantan.

Hope that the bauxite issue will stop soon as it will be really bad if people stop going there because the people who are bauxite mining can't keep their shits together to not let it affect the environment. Seriously, how hard it is to keep it not leaking to sources of water and not let it spill all over the place. ??

Briefly to Melaka

Ok. You can't have it either way is it? Either the job is relaxed and you don't learned anything or super stressful but learning a lot. Huhu. Though I am beginning to feel a lot of dissatisfaction .  And tired. So tired. 

Anyway. Last week we went to the Bayou Lagoon Melaka for some family gathering. It is only for one night but the kids had fun. 

They are absolutely no pictures taken when we are at Bayou Melaka. LOL. 

There are pictured of the kids munching on nuggets though. It was jam all the way and we settled for some KFC on the go. Since KFC nuggets is really good the kids enjoyed it. Saif lah paling suke. He hates rice nowadays. 

We reached Melaka just in time for check in. Petang tu terus bawak bebudak gi mandi, and because I didn't bring an extra pair of underwears ( terrible I know), I pon malas la masuk pool. Have to buy some bikini underwears from the hotel later on. LOL. 

Semua orang malas keluar hotel. My sister and BIL went out to tapaw seafood for us, and even then I am incredibly full sebab my mom dah bawak bekal nasi lemak banyak. Malam tu some of us decided to go out to Bandar Melaka. Kekonon nak gi Jonker Walk, tapi Jonker Walk tutup, nan hado. Haha. I didn't go out pon sebab I am too mengantuk, preferring to just sleep with Saif. 

Then besok pagi tu after breakfast, the kids played in the pool and I kemas2 barang2 untuk checkout. Sekejab je kan. Then my sister ajak pergi Freeport. But start masuk Alor Gajah , jam ok nak gi Freeport. My eldest sister patah balik makan cendol bakar je which is on the way back, sebab die tak jumpa parking. The others found parking including us and decided to go terus. Alang2 dah bersesak. 

Sebab it is like the middle of the month and I had just spent money on clothes, was not too keen to go shopping pon. It was ok la. Exactly like JPO, as for the stores , I don't know. I think I prefer Mitsui Outlet, just because the stuffs there are more affordable and .. air conditioned. Haha.. My husband bought a shirt and that is it. But memang ramai manusia, and they have food trucks at the entrance which is good because I remembered going to JPO during lunch hour masa awal2 bukak dulu and we don't have much choice either you eat at food court which don't offer much or expensive restaurants. The food truck were a big hit. They also have some ice coffee/frap stands which is a good idea since it is a hot day. 

Balik tu kite orang makan durian sebab I dah excited nampak durian.

It is still not cheap. We bought durian sultan I think.. which is for rm36 kut. It was good durian, but I had better. My sister ingatkan stall ni yang buffet durian tu, Haha. No lah, I think my limit untuk makan durian adalah 2 biji kut. That is on a good day. Nowadays 1 durian pon dah cukup. Aziz taknak makan, Saif is eager for more than just a few taste, tapi I tak berapa bagi sangat. Haha,

Hari jumaat petang tu dah sampai KL. Tu pon lewat sikit sebab I nak ikut jalan lama2 sebab on the way pergi Melaka the day before tu I perasan ade orang jual daging salai. 

Terus beli 1 kg worth of daging salai. I tak tahu la mahal ke murah, but cheaper than the packed one in Jusco, which sells around RM20 for sekali makan ( for 2-4 people). 

Yang ni die bagi RM40 per 1 kg. So I bought 1 kg and gave half to my sister. Cukup la untuk 4 kali buat masak lemak. Daging salai selain with kerabu or masak lemak , untuk lauk ape lagi ek? 

My sister said kena simpan dalam freezer kalau tak berbulu. Huhu. So this is all the one going to the freezer. 

Ok. Will promise to update more. Heh. 

BBW 2015

LOL. My husband is like... "but you said you don't want to go because you had shopped a lot during the viva popular sale".  But the books beckoned, and hence I came. 

This year I do not get a preview pass because simply I never try to win any. Huhu. I had foreseen I dont think so I can take leave for the preview pass. And I felt during my last preview pass shopping, macam.. eh.. no big deal lah. 

So I told my husband I feel like going because Aziz is sleeping at my sister house so we only have 1 child that keep us distracted. So by 7.30 am I had changed and bathed Saif jugak sebab die poo poo so nak taknak, mandikan terus. Sampai at MIECC around 8 am, and we found out Saif pooped again. Yessh. Manage to clean him up lah before looking for books. 

We got out of there around 10 am, just nice before the crowd settled in. 

Reached home and picked up Aziz and Aziz was excited to find brand new books.

Ade pakai utk wrist. Aziz so excited. Turned out tadek battery. 

Aziz do love books. 

So for a somewhat clearer look, those are the children books that were chosen by my husband mostly,

Some of Saif books. 

And the big guys/girls books as below. 

This time I was surprised that the amount is over RM400. I spent way less on the other sale. My husband pointed out that we takes a lot of children book this time. I guess so. Also I noticed most of the books at the BBW is at RM10 instead of RM8 of yesteryears. Still cheap, but more. Understandable because our currency is really weak now. 

Glad After Dead is there because I am 1 book and a half away from finishing Sookie Stackhouse series. I am so gonna miss Sookie soon. 

The coffee table books my husband bought. Bobby sibuk nak jadi model. I kinda miss Kurap whenever I bought big bags of shopping home. No cat is more kepochi than her. 

Ok. That's it. I am so mengantuk. Gonna sleep naw. 

Last weekend stuffs

A bit tired because yesterday Monday was cruel. It was closing payroll time so everything has to be urgent and things that cant be solved immediately will be escalated even to the CEO. Cruel I'll tell you. But at the end of the day everyone was happy, well somewhat. 

Last weekend was Aziz and Saif performance and review day. Aziz was supposed along with his class mates to sing and dance and clap and jump. But he do none of that. Instead he stand in a corner and lift up his shirt looking like he doesnt want to be there. Ade la masa2 he will go and play with the tabir kat belakang. Actually most of the kids refused to sing. LOL. The teacher kinda like embarassingly apologized saying that they had practice but I don't mind lah. You can't really force a bunch of 3 and 2 year olds to do stuffs when they don't want to. I think they are a bit overwhelmed by the crowds. At least no one is kicking and screaming. Actually there was 2 incident , but he refused to be on stage and the other one, was a girl who very enthusiastically try to jump and fail and cried. Poor baby. But I like it that they try nonetheless. 

Looked at all the tots. Just seeing them on stage is enough. Hehe.

Afterwards it was review session of the kids. Macam the last one, Aziz received loads of praises because he is a cheerful playful little guy. A little naughty but to be expected lah. Saif however we were informed is a bit tantrumy, clingy and refused to do much except wants to be carried. Which is a bit of a surprise because at home he can be everywhere. Maybe he is a bit overwhelmed by the kids. But the tantrum , yes, Saif nowadays is a bit of tantrum thrower. He will scream and lie down and kicked if he doesn't get his ways or throw things to the floor if he doesn't like the things or pissed at you. I am trying to get him to give things nicely now.

The teacher also said Saif eats a lot, so now I had tuka their punye bekas makanan lagi besar sebab die makan nasi separuh pinggan. The baby thermos just wouldnt fit all of the rice I tried to put in.

Makan pau kacang merah dalam kereta. Comot sebelom sampai. Kena tuka baju. 

On Sunday pulak we had to attend a wedding at Senawang on my husband side. I am always pleased if I got an invitation to a wedding because I love wedding food. Hehe. And this wedding it does not disappoint. Ade sambal sotong kering and keropok lekor! Keropok lekor die plentiful and sodap. Weekend tu plak I tetiba terasa cravings nak keropok lekor. So nice when what you want is suddenly presented to you. Alhamdullilah. 

Then we went singgah at Mitsui Outlet to see what the fuss is all about. I have to say it is nicer than JPO because the choice between brands which we can afford is greater and they have air conditioned so we are not exactly sweating in between shops. My husband likes it because there are a lot of those street brand name shoes that he likes in there. The restaurants also looks nicer. Maybe I will go there again but it is so out of the way that it can only happened rarely lah. We don't buy anything pon. I am looking for another pair of work pants, but couldn't find the one I want. Last2 beli toy untuk Aziz je. 

Saif is 1

My second baby is now a year old. 

Lebam jatuh. Bukan ai dera please, Buat muka just before kentut.

Happy birthday. 

Don't have a lot of time to type out but will keep stuffs in point form je lah

No celebration sebab my husband already bought me a cake and it seems wasteful to buy another one. He don't understand birthday yet anyhow. 

We bought him some educational toy stuff which he really likes on Saturday. He is still playing with it on and off, so that is not a waste. Heh. 

Still no walking but getting there. He is a bit cautious. Takes like a very tentative step forward and then go down on all fours to crawl. Need to build up his confidence I guess. 

I had stopped breastfeeding him completely around 2 weeks back I  guess. During my last month at HP I found that my milk had run dry and I am feeling tired and irritated, he is getting longer to nurse and crankier too at night because my milk supply dropped. So I guess in the best interest of both he is now completely on formula. Heh. My breastfeeding journey with Saif is not as long as Aziz, but I am ok with it. 

Since starting with bottles, I am getting a little bit more sleep because Saif sleeps longer now because he is easily full. So that is a plus. I no longer have a baby tearing out my hairs and eyes at 3 or 4 am in the morning. 

He really loves nasi and sup. I still put out a bekal for him. In rotation it goes like nasi and sup , bubur and occasionally some makaroni stuffs. Though he does not like makaroni or spaghetti macam abang die. Aziz can't get enough of makaroni sup if I cooked, but Saif prefers rice. And if he don't eat rice for a day he will get cranky at night. LOL. Dasar tekak Melayu dah ni. Maybe his appetite will change later on. But now I am enjoying the phase where he eats a lot. 

He loves nursery rhymes videos. If in the morning and I am up and everybody is still asleep and Saif cried if I get myself off bed, I played the youtube videos and he is transfixed. Taylor Swift does not work on this boy though. 

Loves cartoons nowadays. If we open the car tv screens for the kids he will watched it and laughed and giggled until he fell asleep. 

Abang now gets a little taste how it feels like to be us,

Loves his big brother. Nowadays he sleeps in the crook of his brothers arm or at Aziz back. If we pat him to sleep, when he is groggy he will usually tried to look for his brother then fell asleep beside Aziz. Heh.

Sekarang dah kurang sikit die nak masak tah ape2 foreign object masuk dalam mulut. Still do that lah, but not that often. Don't have to fish things out of his mouth very often.

Anyway. That is all I can think of. Happy birthday to my sweet boy. Semoga menjadi anak yang soleh, berjaya di dunia dan diredhai Allah. 

On the brink of 33

Tomorrow is my birthday. 

This year I felt my birthday a little bit more because last year at the end of the day of my birthday, my contractions start and on the next day keluarlah my second child. Heh. I think I watched Hunger Games on that day. I will be watching Hunger Games tomorrow btw. Excited lah. Also told my husband that I dont wanna cook tomorrow. 

But also since it is gonna be Saif birthday on Sunday, I was thinking to cook nasi tomato. Not that Saif can eat nasi tomato, well  maybe a little bit, nasi tomato and probably a little kurma ayam for him kut.  But tengok lah guano. Mungkin maknye jugak akan malas on Sunday. 

Anyway I already knows what I want for my birthday. A robotic vacuum. You know some magazine or whoever will advise to let gift be something from the heart, but nothing is more from the heart than an appliance that will lessen my time for cleaning. It will be interesting to see how the cats react to it. There will probably be videos on Instagram. *rub hands gleefully*

Most probably a Neato because the reviews are good. I already highlighted to my husband the model that I want, so it is up to him lah. I AM SO EXCITED TO GET A VACUUM Y'ALL. 

And about the feeling of turning 33, it does feel scary. More like a lot of things are closing down on you and you don't get a lot of second chances now. Also need to clock in more time for ibadah y'all. Dosa tak muat 1 kontena. 

Anyway for 33 in Malaysians definition of years especially for women, not old, but older. Definitely not young. 33 in Malaysia is the age where you are bustling as a mother hen looking after your many children. Not far off the mark there realistically.. 33 in western world from what I know, still have shits need to sort out. And while realistically I felt like the usual Malaysian women of 33 years of age, insideI felt like the western 33 year olds, where I don't feel like I am settled and I still am figuring out my shits. 

However I don't feel restless anymore like I was in my 20s. Not settled yet, but not feeling like I want to take flight every couple of weeks. 

Happy birthday to me. May gravity treat me nicely and my metabolism does not need to feel like it should heads to early retirement. 

New things to get used to

I am slowly finding my place at the new place. Still 0 friends. No one asked me out for lunch except for first and second days. But that mainly because the place here is kinda like an island. There is one cafe to eat and one food truck. That is your options.

I usually don't really care to eat rice for lunch nowadays, so yeah, I don't mind not going out actually. Maybe one of these days I will go out to eat but it just feels like a hassle. So I brought my bekal and eat at the office and everyone seems to be doing the same. The tapau the food and eat at office. Apart from the no lunch mates, people here seems ok lah. Friendly enough. Though I could do without the 'kakak' 'abang' culture. I don't really like calling out seniority or maybe I just don't like the feeling of being old. Haha. No kakak pleasee.

But I am learning loads here even though I am just in my second weeks. Things I wouldnt learn if I still stay at my old company ( not the HP, HP was always just a temp job), though I miss the old company. Leaving the WFH and very flexi hours benefits hurts ok. Huhu. But I had learned that the old company is not getting better, no salary increase for those in my dept and they may even get the axed soon, so yes. It was never the question of should or should I leave, but more like when .. over there. 

Now.... the distance or the commute. This week is not bad. I keluar rumah kul 8 am reached here at 8.45 am. Not bad la kan. Maybe partly because of the traffic. If it is the usual school days no holiday, kenalah keluar 7.30 paling lewat. Heh.

But I mentioned to my husband that at least ( if there is no last minute work or no epic jam) I can reached home by  7 pm latest. So yeah, in term of the commute it is not that terrible, except kena tutup mata lah bayar tol. Rase macam air je bile swipe TnG. Maybe because the office here is so far away from things like Starbucks or Boost, it can be a good thing. No wastage of money on expensive beverages! More money spent on minyak and tolls instead. Boo. Memang ubah gaya hidup sungguh.

Tomorrow balik JB! Very brief trip balik to attend a friend wedding. All of my friends are super excited. We have matching baju and all. 

Why Not Me

I got another free credit from Audiobooks and I decided to use it for Mindy Kaling new book which is Why Not Me.

She had said earlier on it is not a memoir/autobiography and anyway, she already had another book on which dealt mostly on her life pre Hollywood and during the Office time. 

It feels more like a collection of blog posts though, like you are reading someone musings about life, outlook and whatthehellarepeoplethinking.. 

Since I got to know of Mindy Kaling when I start watching Mindy Project so I hugely enjoyed this since alot of the things that she wrote about is her experience during the show.

Like I said earlier I started to listen to audiobook mostly to kill the monotony of washing dishes, but after all the dishes had been washed, I still can't stop listening to it. 

There were ranting, there are funny anecdotes, there are friendship lessons that most people in their late 20s and 30s would totally understand and commencement speech that is hilarious and on the point.

The best part of the book came during her flirtations with Will. It feels like I was her and was being pulled into two direction by a guy. It brings back.. feelings. Heh. I even like this better than 'Soup Snakes'. 

In short you dont learn a lot about Mindy Kaling in Why Not Me, but you still laugh (while washing the dishes) reading this book . That is a plus point

Another reviews

This month batch of reviews!

Late Night Talking by Leslie Schnur

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

About a late night NYC talk show host whose topics mostly deal with etiquettes and day to day minor aggravations ( cutting queues, inconsiderate drivers etc).

It was ok. The story deals with how the main character deals with her past, romantic attachments and friendship. And her outlook on life basically.

Basic chick lit. Except it feels not quite there. The character feels like a caricature. I would be more interested to read about her best friend. Her struggle on her life is actually just.. common sense. Yes. I don't like the main characters and most of the time the banter between Jeannie and Nicholas went far too long which turn off the charm.

It all feels a little lackluster even if Jeannie is very passionate. Sorry. It all feels blah to me

The Goldsmith's Daughter by Tanya Landman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A story of an Aztec girl during the height of Tenochtitlan era, just before the Spanish invasion. She was born from a twin, a brother who was prophesied to be great and she was prophesied to be nothing, and even to bring doom to all.

I like the story, I understand that it is not that historically accurate but whatever the author fabricate is quite wonderful.

The girl seems distant, but reachable. Her struggle is familiar even to us the modern women, that we are sympathetic for her but we never think of her as weak.

It is quite predictable on how the plot goes but the writing is fast, attention grabbing and end quite satisfactorily. So I enjoyed this book. Never dull.

Highly recommended as YA read.

Windfall by Desmond Bagley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Synopsis: Jan Willem Hendryk's legacy amounts to a staggering £40 million - £34 million to go to an agricultural college in Kenya's Rift Valley, and the remaining £6 million to be divided equally between his only surviving descendants: Dirk, a South African, and Henry, a young drop-out living in California. But a number of suspicious circumstances emerge, including a clause in the will stating that Dirk must spend one month of every year in Kenya. What seems at first a simple matter of greed gradually assumes sinister proportions.

Fast paced story. I like it enough though I mostly am never interested to read story if there is no women featured prominently, but I quite like this book.

I like how it gave the background on the Africas state at the time, it explained the complex history and politics of the Africas nation to something we can comprehend, and deliver the story in a climactic way.

It mostly feels more of an investigative novel, and then there is the big action scene at the end to wrap the story. No twist and turn, but I guess because of that I kind of enjoyed it. Good roundup characters and even the villains I felt sorry for. And the 'sinister proportions' is not that sinister to me. Haha.

Will not mind to read another book by the same author.