Long silence and activities

OOOOhhh, dah lama betul tak update blog ni. Luckily I do not forget my password! Life has been pretty hectic, with endless load of office works and also trying to slot in a couple of aside jobs. What to do..... Mek tidak dilahirkan dengan sudu perak, got to work extra hard for few extra grant.

Nada's Nanny is away for her balik kampung in Medan. She told us, she might go back for 10 to 14 days. I guess that is sensible as she has not gone back for about two years to see her family. It has been 12 days and I really hope she would return.

The first day she was not around, I brought Nada to office and my boss 'loan' his maid to me to look after my girl.

.... like a tuition class, after my boss's children came to office too at 3pm till 6 accompanying Nada!

Then after until tomorrow, I am lucky to have my cousin Shasha who is in her uni semester break to help babysitting. Though Nada cries like a 'mad' girl every morning as we leave home for office, she settles down few minutes after as per reported by Shasha.

However, until tomorrow I am still clueless of where? whom? how? would I arrange Nada to be taken care since Shasha is going back tomorrow night and starting her semester soon. Berdenyut kepala Mek!

Okeh-okeh... Aside of all these busy and clutter life I am going through right now, lets talk about something joyfull - at least to me.

All said with below photos... I've been tailoring dressess to keep me sane.

Dress 1 - I call it Tartan Pleat Dress


Dress 2 - Tie a Green Ribbon Dress

Dress 3 - Bareback Shirring Dress

Dress 4 - Reversible Tier Twirl Dress

Dress 5 - Beachcomber Dress (from Daddy's undershirt)... uh! Dew is super cute in this, I've yet to transfer photos of her.

There goes, few more 'under construction' and more fabric waiting!

Having these dressess, I have a special note for my dear friend, Toughcookie.

Dear Juan,

I meant one of the dressess numbered 1, 2 & 3 for Jada as a gift for her coming 2nd birthday soon. They may not be as gorgeous as the lines that she's having but rest assured... each one is unique. Well, it's handmade.....

I couldn't make up my mind which one to be gifted to her, I thought there would be no one better than you to choose. Furthermore, I came to understand that you seems to prefer choosing a gift so it will be to your liking (harap ada yang disuka!)... and hopefully will still be pleasantly surprised once received.

The Tartan Pleat Dress could be tat bit too long for petite Jada now. Tie a Green Ribbon Dress and Bareback Shirring Dress were 'test drive' to Nada like these :

She's picking Mommy's balcony pot flowers....

Nada viewing Jada's on phone video.

Promise : Only 'test drive' ............. never worn. So TC, leave me your mailing address in my FB inbox should you sudi to accept this gift on behalf of Jada.

with Love : Mario

Kota Bharu and I

It is not my working Monday morning at 2.16am and we are in M.S Garden Hotel, Kuantan. Both Harris and Dew are asleep while I am still wide awake. Must be the hot shower or could be the jumping jacks on hotel bed with Dew earlier that made my eyes wouldn’t want to rest as yet.
We are on our way back to KL after a short trip to beloved home town. I persuaded Harris for a night stay over here with me giving reason that he has to attend for a site inspection. Co-incidentally, he has an ongoing project in Kuantan. Yea..yea…yea… I am always his unofficial boss what !
Well in a more serious mode, he really needs a follow-up inspection after last Thursday’s inspection anyway. I just made it more assured.

I had been postponing for my balik kampong trip since 2 months back. There were always matter(s) that came up which didn’t allow me to do so. Not until last week and after long fought with my boss.
Dew and I took a flight on Wednesday night which later was followed by Harris the next day after his site visit, yes,, here in Kuantan.

My mami’s house is merely 10minutes away from Kota Bharu Airport and I was supposed to contact any of my family members to fetch us once we arrived. I didn’t and instead, decided to opt for a cab to ferry us home from airport. No..no..no, of course I didn’t tell Harris until I did so. Kalau tak.. sure tak boleh punya. Kalau dah buat, then he has nothing to say… except to accept that he has a stubborn wife. Whee hee hee.

It has been long since the last event that I hop on a cab in KB. I always have this uneasy feeling of KB cab drivers. Please don’t get me wrong especially those whom are associated with cab drivers, be it you are the cab driver, or your father or mother or brother or anyone you know, I do not mean bad.

Those days, when I was small and at the time I accompanied my mami to town, we would take a cab or we call it kegheto sewo. The drivers that I encountered always wanting to know and had a gelenya way of asking my mami whom is a single parent if she had a husband like :

“Bakpo la che’ abe tok maghi ambik” means : Why is your husband not fetching you?

or

“Come-come ni che’ abe bui ko naik kegheto sewo” means : You are beautiful… does your husband allows you to hitch a cab?

I may be was a young kid but I did understand and was able to read between the lines. I detested the gelenyaness for ever! Like, for your own sake… Do you have to ask the questions?... I don’t remember my mami answering any of those.

Here now, Nada and I experiencing the cab ride the way my mami and I did years ago. Two females with no male guardian. I swear if I ever being asked the question, I’m gonna switch on my hand phone recorder, record the ‘conversation’ and make a police report for sexual harassment case!

Allahamdulillah, my ‘fear’ was groundless may be at least to KB Airport cab drivers. May be also I am not as beautiful as my mami.

The man was polite to me. I gave him the ticket indicating my destination and he requested me if I could help to fold Dew’s pushchair for he’s not familiar with it. Yeah, I don’t mind. He asked me if we were on a ‘balik kampong’ trip and I answered with a short one. He seemed to understand and respected that I didn’t want for any long conversation. The cab is clean and smell fresh. Better than our own sedan. It was a safe ride home……, only then I realized why was I really wanting to hitch a cab.

I want to face my ‘fear’ and hoping for my daughter not to have to go through the bad experience I had.

oh... how i love this cutie pie.

That’s a little sour experience of mine, I carried for so long……… I just want to share.

On the other hand, I also want to share this wonderful activity for many Kelantanese, especially whom reside in KB, I witnessed ever since I was a small child. I want to believe whoever that had gone trough the cupid love phase of their life in KB, surely had experienced this activity for a date. I did !

…. Lepak tepi pagar airport tengok kapal terbang turun dan naik. Muakakakakakakaaka. It is so festive, isn’t it?

You can judge by the numbers of cars being parked by the roadside. :) LOL.

I was awarded!

My dear friend, TC whom was an alma mater 'rival' (uh!... what was i doing back then!) awarded my page with this beautiful award and I am so flattered.

It is such an honor and being a blogger dummy, I am now trying best to find out how would I show off the award at my side bar!

Since, it is kind of once in a blue moon occasion for me that i am gifted with an award or i'd rather put it that this might be the ONLY award i would receive, i decided for a speech ...

Here goes :

Syukur… Mek dapat berada di atas pentas gemilang ini, sambil merangkul anugerah yang hebat. Terima Kasih yang tak terhingga dari hati ikhlas Mek buat...
- TC kerana memilih Mek
- Suami Mek, Dato' H kerana sentiasa menyokong Mek walaupun dia jarang sekali melayari blog ini
- SMP (Safariyanti Mario Production) yang telah berjasa mengatur perjalanan karier Mek sebagai blogger (yang suam-suam kuku sahaja)
- SM ’Fan Club’ (walau pun hanya beberapa individu sahaja) yang sudi untuk mengikuti kisah WHM 6840.
1 BLOGGER ! I LOVE YOU ALL !!!!

~~~~ Mek now walking towards the stairs to leave the stage very carefully (she’s wearing red color 6” Jimmy Choo’s stiletto) with one hand holding award while the other gracefully placed at side of her bare back long dress… ohhhh! HOT!

As a receiver of the award, I am now given the privilege to select 12 others to be honored with the same. I now proudly nominate the award to the following in no particular order with reasons … I love them, I read them, I will continue to read them. Sure, they shine my life...

1. Feby the Mentibang, my lifetime cousin

2. Aunty Fatimah the Kerabu Jantung

3. Gee the ubisetela, my flat mate during my much younger days

4. Disney, the lovely preacher's wife

5. Aida, proud Mommy of Adam & Mia (she didn't even know me...)

6. Dian, my junior school house-mate

7. Nurul, mummy of Damia(s)

8.Sue Kecik si Jawa Johor yang Gila Jepun.

My.. I only have 8? Is this ok, TC?

Anyway, to the receivers.... you now may want to :
1. Display the award at your side bar & select 12 others for the award
2. Leave a link to the receiver’s page within your post
3. Leave a comment in the receiver’s post to let them know they received the award or being tagged.

But hey,…. No obligation. ;)

Addiction ?

I think I have a sad addiction here or….. may be not. Why do I say so? Let me tell ya the dilemma.

At times when we are needed to, Harris and I drive separate cars to work. I always hated to drive.. and it is a bad thing for me to drive to work also. I tend to stay longer in the office trying to finish up my work because at the back of my mind, I know Harris is not waiting to fetch me downstairs. (I usually unintentionally made him waiting… sometimes up to two hours or more… kalau laki orang lain sure bini dah kena fire!!!…)

So, if I were late… Harris will help to fetch Nada from her Nanny’s. The issue here is, we do not have a car seat in the other car… our old-trustworthy-most loved 1.3L Wira which we will never sell… with plate number WHM 6840, (Now you know where I get my blog page title?). Harris calls her “FELARI”. Harris says… all of the others could come and go but this one will stay with us for as long as she could move. Well, I dreamt a HUMVEE one day so I could just langgar any morons on the road

I don’t really like the idea of placing Nada at the passenger seat unattended though it is just a short 5 minutes drive from the Nanny’s place to our home. Ya…ya…ya… of course Harris fasten the seat belt. I noticed that Harris didn’t go home straight after fetching Nada lately. He sometimes makes way to the Night Market if it is Friday or to the neighborhood convenience store for Nada’s formula or such. This would take longer routes to home, isn’t it?

Say what you like, but this Madam always prefer that cheeky little monster to be ‘tied’ to a car seat. More to her safety… but also to my good. I don’t reckon inculcating a habit for Dew not sitting in a car seat. Once she thought she is free by not sitting in one with her dad, she would want to do the same thing with Mommy.

I know myself, that I am not a very patience person and easily agitated by the simplest reason. So, I can’t be having a toddler wanting to walk about in the car while I am driving. Further more, like I always say… I hate to drive… not shame to admit, I am not a good driver either. Meaning to say, I have to stay focus with my driving with out having to shout my lungs out : “NADA! DON’T STAND!” or “NADA! SIT DOWN!” or “NADA! STAY PUT!”

I believe with the above long winded telling, I have justified myself… that Dew need another car seat!…. or errrrrr…… is this just my addiction?

Anyway, I am thinking of getting her a booster type. Light and easy installation. Pink or raspberry or red or orange color. Of course the not so expensive one. Budget around RM 350 ~ 400.

Maybe from GRACO or Safe N Sound.

However, I haven’t really started with my new surveying and goggling. Oh! I am so afraid I would end up with a big hole in my pocket again.

I guess the saving up by means of me tailoring Dew’s dresses thus far allows me to spend on a new car seat, eh? (Kes nak menyedapkan hati………)

And I have just added a new one to my portfolio… I named it The Royal Velvet Sachs dress.

Royal is because the velvet ribbon is in royal blue color.

How do you handle your stress?

It’s 30 minutes past 1 am now. I am in front of the tv watching 703 channel while having my McD Fillet-o-fish (how unhealthy) and of course blogging. It had been a very tiring day, I just reached home about 45 minutes ago. Dew forced herself not to sleep at her usual hour for she waited for me to tuck her to bed and read her bedtime story. Poor baby!

I’ve got thousands of things to do before I eventually hit the bed but I am so lazy to start. Somehow, I have to get it done…. Not to wait until morning comes because list of events had been planned for daylight. Ghee… I give myself another 20 minutes.

Office works is so stressful lately with very tight deadlines for presentations, submissions, issuance of drawings and what not. People say you can’t really manage the cause of stress but you can always try to manage your own stress. Hik! How ah? Any difference?

I have been procrastinating to open up a saving account with Public Bank. Well… I have few pieces of bank checks for my bonus received in February and the payments for my part time jobs which are yet being cashed. The intention is to dump them all in my PB Unit Trust account, which justify the need for me to open up an account. One for auto debit and two for ease of cash transfer.

So, earlier today despite the tight working schedule, I managed to squeeze into my lunchtime and make do to Public Bank which is less than 100metres from my office.

What I really wanted to blog is about the Customer Service in Public Bank, hmmmm.... may be just the one attended to me. I was required to provide her with my ID so that she could scan the ID and my finger prints. Mek jakun sikit… dah lama tak bukak2 akaun ni. The necessary information then appeared at her P.C screen with out me needed to fill in any forms. Thumbs up.. I like that.

She then handed me few sheets of papers full of write-ups and told me. “Sign sini (pointing to the below right corner of the paper), Sign kat semua page.”

I looked at her and asked “Ini apa, dik?” She answered me “Sign lah, kertas…..” treating me as if I am a stupid moron!

I inhaled deeply the thin Oxygen around me and asked again (could be my question was not clear or it could be misinterpreted) “Akak tahu kertas, apa kandungan dia?…”

She half heartedly answered “Tak ada apa ni, signlah…………” in a very annoying tone to me.

ENOUGH!

If water boil at 100degree Celcius, me on the other hand boiled at only a friction over 25 degree Celcius upon the above conversation. Thanks to all the stress!!! ... further more, I skipped my breafast today.

Sarcastically, with the deepest tone of my voice I uttered to the lady “Miss, I know these are papers. You don't have to tell me. What I want to know is the content of it. Don’t you need to explain?

If you think you need not have to… you should have told me …. Ms, please read through these documents. If you have understand and agree with the stated terms, please put down your signature at this corner. Not just Sign sini ! What? you think I am a cow?” (errrrr... last sentence tu kat dalam hati je. :)

I didn’t finish just as that … I asked her… “What is your name anyway? And…. Why are you not wearing you name tag?”

Her fair skin turned paled. She then tried to be nice to me, but hell I care no more. I just want to get my task done.

Pathetic! Mentang-mentangla mek tak bawak beg LV or pakai kasut Gucci… ko eksen! Bila Mek dah cakap omputih baru nak terhegeh2 layan.

Cut story short. In my act to handle my stress... I find tailoring dresses for Dew is so useful. It is one thing that could still keep me sane and in one piece to face the daily office work load.

Here is my latest edition.... I named it The Navy Collar dress.

The tunic dress

I came to know of this page when i was googling for bubble dress making tutorial and instantly got hooked with it. Disney, the page author is a preacher's wife whom is so talented with crafts works, I adore every single creation she made. Moreover, she is at her best when it comes to recyling and transforming of what it seems be fit in the 'junk' chest to a masterpiece.

I am truly inspired by her creativity which lead me to a project.... and I ended up sleeping at 4am to finish it.

It all started with a light brown baby-T that I have been having for 10 years or so. I could had looked hot in it some time ago, but after 10 years.... it gives me no more pleasure wearing because I just look like a wrapped jackfruit! Direct translation of balut nangka. :)

See picture below.... You know what I mean.....

This photo was recently captured during our trip to Fraser's Hill a month back. I purposely chosed a photo of which I am partly hidden behind Dew's pushchair and it is far enough that I should look petite!. Even so, the unwanted shown parts are still outstanding.

So, upon putting my thinking cap............... I decided I wanted to make a tunic dress for Dew.

The n0t-so Baby-T anymore and stripes design cotton material.

And the result is :

I should register her for tennis class, eh? She sure conquer the court.

My 35th birthday - Part 1

I so must blog about my birthday this year, though more than a week had passed. It was definitely one of the best birthday celebrations I had. For that matter it was celebrated for 3 hari 3 malam berturut-turut macam anak raja kahwin. :)

This year 28th March falls on Sunday. The few days before Sunday, Harris had been reminding our girl…. “Nada, nanti birthday Mommy… Nada nyanyi to-yu okay…”
On Saturday the 27th , we had the first dinner outing at Manhattan Fish, just the three of us and a little Chocolate Mud Pie for dessert made Dew singing “to-yu, to-yu, to-yu” This marked my first day celebration.

The little Chocolate Mud Pie ice-cream cake.

Macam burung ciak!

See how 'cool' I was enjoying my dessert.

She decided that she had to make an important call to Tokyo in the middle of our dinner to check on Nikkei !!!

The day 28th March started early morning with my Subuh prayer praising to Allah s.w.t with all greatness that He has lend me thus far. A husband whom has so much patience, a daughter whom means everything to me, other family members whom always plays a part in my story. A career that I like…..though at times it does strangle my neck. The fact I am able to contribute to the family well being by having a career on my own, I am just so grateful.

How can I resist these two LOVE ?

After my prayer I went out of the room and took a peek to Dew’s room to find out she was in a deep sleep and looked so solemn. I gazed all around the living room of our tiny apartment with just a bulb lighted at room corridor. Everything is in it’s place and neat. The lime scent from KIWI floor cleaner could still be smell from my mopping works at night before. I slide to side the glass sliding door and drew the curtain. Cool wind gushing through blowing the soft curtain up. I stepped out to the balcony feeling and inhaling the fresh air. A streak of first light shone at a far horizon. It was indeed a beautiful dawn. Praise to Allah s.w.t, that I live for another day.

We had planned for a family day out to International Book Fair at PWTC. Nothing starts for us unless we have a good breakfast, off we went to KRB Ampang Water Front after getting readied. I had the weekend favorite – Mee Kari. What I like about the curry mee serves for breakfast there is it’s portion. Medium scale : the ration of mee – tauhu – chicken – kerang – vegetables are perfectly sized for my breakfast level and the curry is yummy. A nicely do breakfast will ensure my smile at least for half a day.

Even though the day was still early, we guessed crowd in PWTC was surely packed judging from the lines of busses being parked at roadsides. I thought we would need to spend hours to look for a car park space, but the luck was on our side when we got one so near to the shopping entrance instantly after entering The Mall Basement.

She went to Book Fair in style.

Harris and I picked up few books and dictionaries for ourselves and selected few for Dew’s bedtime reading at the book fair. Dew behaved relatively well considering it was a packed event with sea of human. She requested to be on her feet at areas with lesser crowd and wouldn’t mind to be tied to the push chair at areas where people move at the pace of a turtle crawl.

While we were touring the fair, my cousin Nslave called me. As soon as I picked up the call, high pitch voice almost like chipmunks sang me : "Happy Birthday to YOU! hAPPY bIRTHday to YOU!......" Awwwwww.... those were my two little cousin niece and nephew. That was so sweet and I was delighted.

It was a satisfactory event for me with books and books and books every where. The only part that I don’t really like was when being harassed by salespersons of those early child education programs. You name it… Grolier, Scholastic what evah!… Not that I do not believe in all these media for early child education, but I solely do not agree when people put it as if I have to depend on them to ensure my child turn out brilliant, to be like Mr Astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Al Masrie or Mr Tony Fernandez for that matter. (Apsal la mek pilih dua nama tu….)

“Kak…. Akak kena guna program ni…. Orang semua dah pakai sekarang ni. Nanti anak akak ketinggalan kalau akak tak beli dan guna program yang kami buat ni……….” Cheh! Please put it some other way la..

A salesperson kept nagging and telling me how a child may master English by watching their CD’s when he spoke English tunggang-terbalik, no better than me. I was about to tell him – May be you should watch the CD and learn your pronunciation well. However, since it was my birthday… I decided to be a gracious lady and not some bacul bitch. (Thank you to the good breakfast, kalo mek lapar……. Keluar tanduk!)

We then made our way to Jalan TAR as I wanted to get some stuff for my tailoring projects. You see, I may look and sound rough but ribbons, lace, little satin flowers could melt my heart. I felt like sleeping in Bunga & Riben shop which is full with wonderful colors. If I couldn’t have a Baby Products shop, I want to own a shop that sells ribbons.. Heh! Heh!
After getting hold of what I wanted at Bunga & Riben, five design selection of cheapsket fabric at Nagoya, two sets of Noevelle bed sheets at Sogo and sepinggan penuh Nasi Beriani at Insaf…. It was already close to 4pm and we headed home just in-time for Zohor prayers yang dah nak habis waktu!

Dew was asleep once we were home, so Harris and I had a quiet time to conclude our part time job of a bungalow renovation before the big event at night. Could she was awake, she would want to join signing and folding the plans too. The fact that Harris and I were collaborating and co-operating with each other for the job really gives me the sense of satisfaction. I hope one day we’ll achieve of what we both always dream of.

The tickets. Check out the book... I still have my Matriculation books nicely kept.. more than 15 years, ok!

Cik Ani the Nanny came over to our house close to 7pm to look after Dew while Harris and I went out for our night date at Amy’s Suatu Masa concert. It has been SSSSOOOOOOO long since only Harris and I went out together to have some fun. The loving Harris treated me extra nice and I am extremely a lucky women.

I wouldn’t say Amy’s musical concert was the best concert I had watched……. but surely it was an entertaining one.
Somehow….. I do not know, it was either the concert or may be Amy himself, reminds me so much of my own brother…. Mohd Safari Nasir.
May be it was because of the story line which narrated Amy’s life line being an entertainer from the darkness in the early until now that some lights had shone.
May be my brother has some resemblance of Amy physically. Yes, my brother is totally a good looking man only if hadn’t lost much weight for the last 17 years.
By end of the concert, my thought was all to my brother. I hope and pray he will lead a good life at present and on. Now that my silence promise to myself to buy my mami a house is fulfilled, I made another promise to myself……… I want to support my brother in all my might for the success in whatever he’ll do.

Amy and me

Yours truly

My other half

.............. to be continued