5th December and Placemat bags.

Happy New Year 2015! Oh dear, a year just went by so swiftly.

My favourite girl, Nada ended her kindy years last year December, 05^th. It was definitely a bitter sweet moment for her and of course for me too. We have been sending Nada to Kindicare since she was 3 years old and I am glad I made the decision to send her there that early, during these foundation years. Whilst typical Asian schools usually be equal to study hard-achievement-award and all that intimidating scenario, Kindicare’s approach on the other hand encourage character building, creativity and the love for knowledge.

Yes I do want Nada to excel in her studies as this, in a way would pave a right and more concrete direction for her even though it is not necessarily true. However, I just do not want to be engulfed in the mess of fighting for YOU-MUST-GET-ALL-‘A’s-OR-AS-MANY-‘A’s-AS-YOU CAN-GET.

Urghhh, Mek rimas.

The best part about Kindicare for me, is the aunties whom are genuinely loving, nice and humble people. Every time I send Nada to school, I left the school compound at ease knowing she’s well love and taken care, without a doubt. Creative playing is number ONE, while learning A-B-C comes along.

My mami time and again asked me if it is necessary to spend close to RM1K each month for pre-school when there are many more other schools charging much less. It is only half a day. I totally get her, I myself didn’t even go to kindy for a start. On top of that, we have to hire commute transportation to fetch Nada from school and send her to the day care. Day care for another half a day then cost another usual RM300/month. But it is something I believe worth spending. Sure thing I got to buy a gold chain as big as tali kapal with money spent for school fees, but I don’t think I’ll be content with that.

The last day of school was marked with a Christmas party and the children were gifted with a present by Mr Santa. O well, – parents did supply the gifts! I thought it is the right year for Nada to hand out gifts for the aunties as well since it is her last year, as the way of saying thank you.

Thinking through, I thought this place mat bag idea by Dana would make a great handmade gift. It is something simple to make and definitely the cost of all would not create a big hole in my pocket.

So, one lunch hour I scouted the shops in VIVA homes, where my office is now located for the place mat. Emmm.. I didn’t go to many shops actually, in fact I straight away went to the RM5 shop hoping I’ll be able to find what I wanted.

Spot on, I got hold a pair of plastic place mat in blue stripes. I knew I must try to make one first just to make sure my Lady Gaga can take on the layers. You see, she’s kinda old this love of mine, you got to be gentle with her. Many times I snap on her for breaking the thread easily, not wanting to move….so on. Seriously, I wish Santa would gift me a JANOME! 

   

    To my surprise, Lady Gaga took on the challenge, and the first bag was whipped up quite easily. I got all excited about it and proceeded to buy 10 more pairs of place mats in multi stripe and solid colors.

A week to Christmas party, between work – house chores – many eating out – less sleep – countless time Lady Gaga broke the thread – I got frustrated….. I managed to get all 11 bags done just.. just (yes, I mean it) in time for the party.

Nada made thank you cards to each of the aunties accompanying the bags. I curse myself for not taking a single photo of them. They were only white A4 size papers that she folded into halves, decorated at the front and wordings in the inside. Some wordings came together with pictures she drew. What I like most about the cards was the fact that the wordings were thoughtfully written by Nada meant to each aunties individually.

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-       She likes Aunty Meena’s cooking. (Aunty Meena is the cook)

-          She thanked Kakak Kameria for her cooking too. (Kakak Kameria is the bibik)

-          She’ll miss Aunty Shanti so much, that she is the best aunt. (Aunty Shanti is her class teacher for two years. Nada is always taken as her side kick)

-          She thanked Aunty Liza for helping her. (Aunty Liza is the guardian of baby class, the very first aunty that Nada got to know at 3yr old.)

-          She said she likes one of the Aunty’s voice – I can’t remember which one, must be the one who always sings…

  I feel good that my girl feels good about handmade or self made things and being creative in expressing herself. What a pride.

I put all the placemat bags into IKEA shopping bag for Nada to bring to school and all of a sudden she changed herself to become Santa! Ho ho hooooo….

In choosing which bag shall be given to whom, I gave total freedom to Nada for the decision, which later that day I was told by A.Jeane (the principal) – “no wonder Nada has been discreetly putting up conversations like days before, with the aunties asking them their favourite colour .. if they like orange or teal or green”.

I know Nada’s mind. She does a lot of cataloging in her way of thinking. She did told me, the black stripe bag would be perfect for Aunty Liza because A.Liza has dark skin. Ummm.. I donno.

Enough said, I do feel the genuine appreciation from all aunties to the humble bags that I made them. For that, I’m a happy mom and I sure shed lots and lots of tears last year December, 5^th.

Nada with Aunty Shanti and her BFF, Arlia.

Farewell Kindicare, we hope to make occasional visits in years to come and remain friends.

Brace on Khalifah Model School, Bismillah……

Random

In couple of months, wouldn't I write in this space it just meant ONE year of shear neglect. Hmmm…. I blame Mr FB for that. It has taken all the glory on updates about Nada’s antiques, my past time favorites, our family stories bla-bla-bla. Hehehehe… what a lame excuse. But today, I feel like blabbering.. on random things.

• Alhamdulillah, I’d don the headscarf on Harris’s 43^rd’s birthday last year December,27. O Allah, please guide me.
  Hi-Tea at Hyatt in celebration of our little family only boy's birthday.

• My beloved grandmother, Mok had a mild stroke early this year. She fell in the bathroom. I was devastated. 

           -         Once got the news, I can say.. almost ALL, ALL of the family members from near                       and far drove, flew, swam (err…) back home to see her. We gathered around her,                       we talked to her, we cried near her.... together. I’m proud of my big family. 

-          She eventually ‘recovered’ but not fully. She now has short term memory which is so not her just a year ago. Sometimes, she remembers my name. Many times she forgets. It breaks my heart every time, for I’m a self proclaimed her favorite grand daughter!

-          Recently, she gave me 16 sets of her baju kurung all nicely paired and folded in plastic wraps. Reason – those kurongs are now too big for her that she has lost weight and in a way shrunk due to ageing. Those kurongs suit me well.. I know, I'm always her favorite grand daughter.

-        Now, at any possible opportunity we have - we will go back home to visit Mok. We here means, my whole big family.

I love these colorful photos of may be just 1/8 of my cousins taken during 2013 Raya at Mami's house. Many times, people tell stories of how close they are with their brothers and sisters. Not many however, can describe their cousins like my family do. 

• We threw Nada the first birthday party (which actually deserve an entry on it's own) she ever had at Jungle Gym Bangsar. My favourite girl is 6!

 She was excited about the party, she didn't mind at all to make her own invitation card,

helped with the making of goody bags.

• ·         Nada is soon to start ‘real’ school in 2015. Yikes! Really? She’s gonna be 7? S.e.v.e.n? 

•         My cousin Ika married in March.

and I was entrusted to make the flower girls dresses. 

•   Then another cousin, Shasha got married in May. They are same age and both are now preggars. 

 Shasha - didn't I tell you she has the most beautiful eyes. Those are real lashes..

I made Nada a special dress to wear for Shasha’s wedding.

• Ika’s two younger sisters, Nina and Mira got engaged. Both in August. It will be a busy year again next year for us.
• Mira’s engagement was held in my cousin, Feby whom is Mira’s other sister living near us in Ampang. Since my family somehow, is fond of cooking for our own family affairs, it was decided cooking to be done at our home. Hence, we were the co-host for Mira’s engagement dos.

• We went for a holiday trip in Krabi last April.

• I so love travelling and totally agree with Diyanazman, that travelling is the only thing that you buy and makes you richer. Even if one invest on a property, one remains 'poor' until one sell the property off.
• For the love of travelling – we’re planning for another family trip upcoming October. Oh – I’m so excited
• Speaking about travelling, my most-trusted-sought-after aunt, Busu and her husband are now in their most sacred travel, being one of the selected ones to perform Hajj this year. I pray for their health and may they be rewarded with Jannah.  
• Harris and I celebrated our 10^th year wedding Anniversary last August, 20^th.  It’s been fancy years living with this man so far. I love him.

• I sure made few handmade dresses for Ms Dew in the last 8 months or so, which I'll put up photos later if I have the time.

I'm still here

It’s been long.. It’s been long!

The blog sure needs some mowing. I could see not only grass has gone wild in this pasture but cripples too has conquered many parts of it.

So many things and events had taken place for the last 5 months or so, good, bad and the in between. But let’s leave the bad aside and just cherish the good ones because seriously, there're too many good ones that the bad one just seems unseen.

In the big family, we had weddings, engagements, Raya this year which was so much better than last year’s though I was forced to do office work during the break, welcoming new family members … among many more other happy events.

Yeah, I know... the one showing fist is mine....

 At 3.45kg, Zairoul Naquib. My cousin's or more like little brother's son.

 

In my immediate family, of course Nada has the most to tell about which I just do not know where and what to start.

She really talks a lot now – Malay and English equally used. Kelantan dialect, she’s trying so hard to master. Sometimes I just can’t seem to believe what came out of her 5 year old mouth.

On  one Sunday at Ikea, she missed the boat in her queue to enter Smaland by just couple of kids in front her. I told her the next session would be at 7.30PM which really boiled her up that she had to wait for another 1 ½ hour.

In a single breath, she just needed to let the steam out, almost shouted at me :

“This all your fault. Not my fault. Why do you come here late? I am so upset with you and angry. You stay away from me. Don’t come near me!”

… o my.. I almost crawled on my knees hearing she said that.

One night, out of the blue she asked us :

“When Mommy and Daddy were children, you meet is it? Then, did Daddy ask you – will you marry me?”

... like, why would she thought about it?

We celebrated our 9^th year wedding anniversary the night before 20.08.13 at home. Only us, where I bought a Baskin Robbins cake for the tiny celebration we had. 

 

However to Nada, all cakes are for her. Hence, she wasn’t happy that the cake was not meant for her, till the extend she sobbed so badly. I didn’t want her sulking for too long and told her that the cake was indeed for her.

 

You see, she needed an event for herself to be having the cake.

She asked me : “Why do you buy cake for me ? My birthday is in January. Now not yet January”

Clever mom I am, I told her : “O… I bought you the cake because you did well in your spelling bee at school.”

She was delighted with the explanation.

The next night, that is the actual day of our Aniversary, we had steamboat at Johnny’s we called it “NADA’S SPELLING TEST EXCELLENCE CELEBRATION DINNER” instead of Anniversary Dinner. Talking about the extent parents would do to make their kid happy, huh?

 

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Of course, handmade dos that I wish not to miss the blog.

I finally fixed Baby’s OR Ary's leg!

 
 
I also managed to make this cute baby smock romper for Baby Naquib…. And of course, a pair of cloth shoes to match. Owh.. I'm in love with that boy already.

 

I now can cross the ROMPER from my list.

Still recuperating

I'm still at home.. recuperating.

Though Lady Gaga is like calling me to mend her and make something, I just dare not touching the machine for now. Mesin jahit kayuh .....kalau ader motor lain la jugak.

The free time I have, I thought why not do some cooking! Cooking is not that bad after all. I'm not that bad, either. Nobody got diarrhea thus far.

 Beef curry with potato

 

Stir fried cabbage/pepper and crispy fried anchovies

Stir fried chicken with ginger in oyster sauce.

Masak putih kobis!

Days in recovery



It's Saturday today! I'm still on medical leave due to the surgery I undergone 3 weeks ago. Feeling so much better, I am now able to walk faster even though not to the pace I usually do and at least able to do light house chores.

 

Few days back, I walked up the stairs to the first floor of our home after not going up for close to three weeks. Rasa macam nak pengsan! Not because of the stairs .... but chaos of all. The unfolded clothes, mess in Nada's closet, habuk yang tak boleh nak cerita, stacks and stacks of nick-nack here and there.. I don't know where to start.



 

I decided to let them just be and walked down.

 

Got hold of my phone.. texted Nada's Nanny : "Ani, hujung minggu ni boleh datang tolong saya kemas rumah"

She replied : "Boleh ma Nada..."

 

Forget about cleaning, I made beef fried rice with bak choy.



Always like fried rice with lots of vege and I prefer the vege to be crunchy. Yums! Nada makan bertambah.

 

Today's breakfast, bread with cheese and half boil ayam kampong eggs from my FIL breeds.

Don't tell my Mami about the soya sauce, she keeps saying it's not good to take after surgery.. Nanti kesan jahit jadi hitam. But I'm stubborn like that.

RM 20.00 Curtain for our Guest Room

I did make a declaration that sewing curtain for me, is nothing easy. However, because 'I do take sewing challenges seriously'.... I did sew another curtain for our home.

It's now nicely hanged in the guest room.

I know, the photo is bit blurry... but I'm just lazy to snap more.

Again, I bought the fabric during our trip to Japan at a shop called TOMATO. It was on price reduction which only cost RM4.00 per meter. Dirt cheap I would say considering the quality and thickness of the fabric. I didn't really know what I would end up with when I bought all the fabrics. For this one it was only 4 meters or so. Hence, I didn't have enough for the conventional curtain which the curtain tape is sew on one side of the fabric and gathers are formed once we slot in the curtain hangers. Y'know what I mean.

Instead, I took the pain staking step to create the pleats before sewing the curtain tape. In this way, I would be able to dictate the required length to suit my window size. I consider it as pain staking as I did try hard to get the match print due to repetitive print design of the fabric.

For more little detail, I capped the curtain top with bias in cream that I made from selvages cut out from the fabric.

 

Having done with two sets of curtains for our home, I now am looking at the main sliding door at our living room.

 She sure needs a new set, doesn't she?



For now, she is dressed with an unappropriate size curtain which need to be clipped together, so it will close!

 

I already have in mind the fabric that I'd love to have, however, it's quite steep in price... so that will have to wait. Hopefully.... I'll get it done someday.

 

For now, I want to strike out curtain from my list first.



Interpreting a 5 year old design

I once read an entry by the preacher’s wife on how she managed to interpret her daughter’s design into a dress. I thought it’s so cool, but never it cross my mind that I would be doing the same until one day Nada came to me with an "awesome" sketch : 

 

Nada  : “ I want a dress like this. Can you jahit (sew) for me, Mom?”

Mommy : “Huh? What’s this? Can you explain how you want the dress to be?”

Nada : “Owh.. I want many colours. Have red, purple, blue, orange…. Pink!. See, like I draw.”

Mommy : “Hmmm.. that’s good choice of colours. What about the bottom? You want frills?”

Nada : “Ya, just little bit. I don’t want so much. Later, I lemas! (uncomfortable).

 

And so, this Mommy put on her thinking cap and cracked her head. I think I got it.

We then on one Saturday head to Jalan TAR and I purchased plain cottons mostly only 1 meter each. Slightly frustrated that after I purchased the red, purple blue, pink and green plain cottons at Nagoya with price tag RM 5.50 per meter.. only to find out I could have at Kamdar for RM 2.50 per meter. Chech! Talk about quality, I don’t see much difference. I only bought orange colour cotton at Kamdar! Just hate being in the sort of ‘regret’.

 

The next day on Sunday, I sew the dress and it turned out to be :

:

:

:

:

:

A Colour block dress, Not bad, huh? I was contemplating either to use or not the much love white linen that I bought in Japan for this dress. But then again, would I not use it for my favorite girl ... who else ?

 

 

I now can strike out play dress from my list.