Cardiff and Shoes, not a rhyme.

One morning at Nada’s school few days before I left for Britain :

“How’s your shoes, Nada? Come, sit on the bench and let me check if they’re still good fit to your beautiful feet.” said Aunty Jeanne (the school principal) while she kneeled down and started pressing front of Nada’s shoes with her finger.

“Awww…. Your feet are getting bigger, leaving just tiny space at front. Strong big girl, you are!”

* I was standing right next to them*

“Mom… it’s time to find new pair of shoes ya…..”

I felt like I had been boxed by Muhammad Ali straight to my face. It sure hit me well, like, really I need someone to tell me my daughter’s shoes are tight?

I had meant to buy Nada new shoes knowing the one she’s been using for P.E class during school is getting smaller. I’m a procrastinator!

Until Aunty Jeanne told me so, never I felt that I’m such a slow-mow.

However, things have to be taken on a bright side. Wouldn’t it good that we have someone like Aunty Jeanne? Like I say, she’s meticulous. Children are her interest. Children are her priority. It’s just natural for her to do what she did, been doing and I believe will continue to do.

“Oh ya… it’s true Aunty Jeanne. Ah, I must find time for some shopping!” I reacted, trying to blame on ‘time’ which definitely will never be a good excuse.



 Shoes and slippers being washed for storage. No longer fit her feet.

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Aida and I hailed a bus from London during our Britain trip to meet our friend, Sawiyah whom has been residing Cardiff, Wales for 18 years. She was our wonderful host for 3 days that she had perfectly planned a tour for us despite her tight, I really mean tight life schedule.

The day we reached Cardiff, she just returned home from Essex for work with groceries supply done for our through out stay. Efficient!

Two days after we bid farewell to her, she’ll also be flying back to Malaysia, to her hometown in Besut for a surprise visit to her mom, then back to KL for a 4 days motivational program, off to Vietnam after for a girl trip consisting her mom, two sisters, three nieces. She then will fly back to Cardiff for 3 days stay and off to Sates for 3 weeks.

That’s just her lifestyle. I do not know how she adapts to time zones and jetlag!

It is so fortunate for us to be able to slot into her pocket time in Cardiff, as she told us, though she own a home in Cardiff, her actual time spent in Cardiff is only about 2% a year. Other than that, all over the globe.

In her BMW X3, we were driven around Wales covering bit here and there for visits and shopping whilst being awed with her spirit in embracing her life in all the humbleness that she has. I’m so proud of her, I’m sure Aida is proud too.

Aida's feet.

 

 

Sawiyah and I - traditional Welsh Village, Llandaff

 



 

The scenic Welsh Life Museum, St Fagan. We had picnic too, all prepared by Sawiyah without Aida and I realizing it. 

Penarth Marina for the rich

Cardiff Bay

 

Cardiff City

Sawiyah is living single and when I asked about having a family of her own, she has nothing to hide. She admitted how she longed for an other half and child of her own, but she makes a stand that if now she’s travelling only in Business or First Class, she will not make herself travel in Economy just because of love…. that her partner couldn’t afford. It wouldn’t work. Period.

I get her clearly and I salute her. BOLD.

Time and again, despite her clear vision of wanting to be Rich and Happy she repeatedly preach Aida and I that : 

“whatever we have now, we actually own nothing ....... it’s not ours” MasyaAllah, humbleness.

Sawiyah's Western Home.

View from her backyard

Yummy curry mee for farewell dinner prepared by Sawiyah. Here is me and friend from TKC, Adibah. She too has been living Cardiff for 20 years. A doctor operating her own practice.

 

One of the places that we toured, Sawiyah brought us to Bridgend Designer Outlet.

Sawiyah told us to go ahead with our shopping while she waited for us. For two hours Aida & I roamed the shops, Sawiyah was on her 4 phones - working! Once we were done, she handed to us :  "You all must be hungry, here I bought you guys donuts. Let's sit and eat!" - Allah s.w.t bless my friend. 

A-hah! Here, I found my worth-it buy. I like buys like this. A pair of Reebok shoes at a further reduction price for my energetic bunny. Reduction from 20 to 14 to 9pounds.

It could be clearance from last year Spring, but who cares, I don’t. My bunny sure doesn’t.

Suits her 40 pence Britain socks, huh?

 To school today.

Back home, not to my knowing, Harris too did some shoes shopping for the tiny feet. A pair of pink shoes for her P.E class. Hehehehehe, somebody also felt slap by Aunty Jeanne’s gentle reminder, I guess.

 

 and new slippers too.

 

Note : Most photos in this entry are credit of Sawiyah and Aida.

The White Toaster Story

Cik Ra went back to Kota Bharu and Mok sent me a white toaster.

 

Mok simply did it because I am a self-proclaimed (something like Sultan Sulu) Mok’s  favourite grand daughter. Wahah! Of course it has to be self-proclaimed for how I wish to be one.

But the truth of the matter is Mok doesn’t have any favourite. She loves her grand children all the same.

You could be the prettiest, semi-pretty, the smartest, semi-smart, the one whom regularly spare her some cash, the one whom sometimes does, sometimes doesn’t or even none at all, it doesn’t matter to her. Trust me, I know it very well.

For anyone to visit her, all will get the same treatment and the most common would be “GO – EAT. GO – EAT. Come, lets eat” Over and over again.

There’s no way for her to compare her grandchildren to one another. She always thinks good of everybody and believes in giving people chances, whenever we have gone bad. She’s strict during her young days and may not be the kind of grandmother whom hugs and kisses, but deep in her heart, I know she loves us so much.  

Now, Story about the toaster :

Mok came to our ‘new’ pad for a short stay during the Chinese New Year break. As usual we chit-chat on a lot of stuff and one of it I told her how I love toast bread. I already had couple of toasters during my marriage life that had gone kaput on me, which shows how much they were in used. My one and only rice cooker on the other hand, has lasted for years. It is actually been inherited from Harris being most eligible bachelor days. Still working good till now which only shows one thing – it’s hardly being used.

Mok told me, she has a new toaster back home in Kota Bharu that my Ayah Ngoh won over a tennis match. (Not bad, huh? my uncle, playing tennis at 50+++ age and still winning). She without any hesitation said that she wanted me to have the toaster. Reason being, the entire household back there hardly eat toast bread. Even if they want, there’s already another toaster that could do the work. I know that another toaster, it could be the same age as me! So old gadget. Really, I had toasters done by the very same when I was a kid.

It was even more interesting Mok told me, the new toaster is white in colour. She said it will suit well to our home as she noticed how I try to keep my home simple and ‘white’ is bring to enhancement.

 I tell you…. My grandmother, Mok, she got the eyes and class. She’s 80+++++, she didn’t go to architecture or art or graphic school, but she definitely could interpret what lies beneath. I think so.

 Two days upon the arrival of the toaster, it had already made into use.

 

Perfect Sunday breakfast for me.

I really hope this one will last long.

BRITAIN AND CURTAIN, is it a rhyme?

(L-R - Me, Aida & Lin)

Wohoooo… a sneak peak.
Yeh, two of my good ol’ girl friends along with Lin’s two nephew and I just came back from Britain. Hmm... Aida & I spend 10 days of Britain, i.e England and Wales where as Lin detour to Paris on the last 3 days. Cold..it was C.O.L.D for my tropical skin, heh.

During our trip to Japan last year, I bought these :

of course sans the girl in pix.

cute craft supplies...

This time around, trip to the UK, I bought these :

It’s Cath Kidston, y’all…. I'm a happy girl.

Aren’t we crafters love her?

Anyway, enough about Britain. Hopefully I’ll get down about it some how.

Let's go to curtain, My actual entry :

It’s been close to five months that we moved to our current pad. Many times when I walked across from our living to the backyard, I can’t resist but to thank Allah.s.w.t of what we have.

Alhamdulillah, I recite the phrase quietly over and over again.
I thank Allah s.w.t for the Rezeki that we managed to procure the home.
I thank Allah s.w.t for allowing us to get a small renovation work done. (for the moment)
I thank Allah s.w.t for the space we have and when our big family come over.. it feels a lot more comfortable than before.

I really love our space despite it is practically bare at the moment. In-fact, we don’t even have enough sofa or chair for our guests to sit on. I’ll work on it slow and steady….

I’m pretty sure there’ll be quite a sewing for this place too. The first handmade was – to dress up this folding doors opening widely to our backyard.

(Note : Should you ever wonder what was Nada doing in this photo… the answer is the last photo of this entry)

I for one, preferred non-curtain. However, without the curtain it would be ‘a show’ when night comes!

I never thought sewing curtains would be tough. What I pictured was, just straight cut of fabrics to required length, straight sew curtain tape, straight sew the seams… wallah my curtain done.

No! it was not that easy. The difficult part about curtain is they have to be STRAIGHT. Cut straight, sew straight! My hands are not straight after all! Somehow, after all the scolding and cursing to Lady Gaga (she’s getting old and not so efficient anymore), I managed to get it done.

My first handmade for our home. I’m so satisfied.  

 

Last photo : Mommy scarecrow and baby scarecrow by Nada, yeah ~ that’s what she was doing…..

New (old) project

just completed.

 

I’d started the smocking many-many months ago, not only until few days back that it turned into a garment. Hmmm, speaking of procrastinating….  

The smocking for the front skirt was completed for quite a while, then I stopped. For the sleeves, it’s just 4 rows of smock, I believe I could finish them in 2 hours should I have that solid uninterrupted time.

Somehow the time I could afford to have is somewhere 10~15mins window between errands or before my daily slumber (of which it didn’t take long to shut down my conscious mind) or while waiting for the car engine to heat up in the mornings.  

Ya… times like that, hence the supposed to be 2 hours task has prolong for days….

Anyhow, it doesn’t really matter to me when should I complete a dress or any project as I am doing it for my own leisure. A stress relief and I do not enforce datelines.

Buuuuttttt….. B.U.T - BUT! this girl is growing up ever so quickly.

 

 

That means, my slow motion may gets into me that my girl could not fit into dresses that I intended for her once it’s finish !.. Ahhhh.. STRESS!

 

Dew in the long-awaited promised handmade bathrobe. It took me a year to seal it off !
She was so happy with the robe she’s been trying it on whole Saturday night it was finished.

On Sunday morning when we were about to go out for breakfast, she asked my permission : “Mommy can I wear this….”
How can I resist her.

Happened to be we planned for breakfast + grocery shopping, so off we went to AEON BIG. She walked AEON BIG like that.

 

She’s also been whispering to her dad : “Daddy, lets go to hotel – PENANG”… She really wanted to make use of her bathrobe by the pool, huh?

 

Our one and only, Mek Robey @ Cikgu Bedah.

Figuring Japanese pattern

As I’ve earlier mentioned, I kinda made myself promise to make for Nada dresses for her very year birthday as tradition of our own. A tradition I wish to keep for as long as she’s willing to wear Mommy’s silly creation. Oh.. y’know I reckon there will be the stage that she’s no longer fond of putting on fluttery stuff. Sob-sob. Sad, isn’t it?

This year, though it’s tat bit out of her birth date which was on January 30th, I managed to sew a tiered pink dress for her. She wore it to school today!

Isn’t she’s the coolest stuff on earth? I just love my daughter’s eccentric character.

Construction site helmet-pink dress-pink slippers and peace sign is quite a combo, don’t you think so? 

 

The dress is of a pattern from Japanese pattern book, I bought during our trip there last year. I would say, the difference of sewing from Japanese pattern and Western pattern is – I just don’t understand what’s written in Japanese pattern.
It is a shame thing to admit that I learnt Japanese language for 3 years during my secondary school years!

Hence, the sewing this time around is just referring to diagram and very much guessing work. For as long as it looks and wearable as a dress, heck! Who cares if I’d sewn it correctly vice-versa.

One thing for certain, over the years that I've made dresses for my girl... the fabric being used definitely had doubled or may be tripled. That's how much she has grown!

I'm gonna miss these years.....

Just the two of us

O.. How I miss this space.

I had a special day today...
In our household, we have this arrangement that usually Mommy sends Nada to school in the morning and Daddy fetches her from the Nanny's in the evening. It's a simple arrangement because somehow I leave home for work later than Harris and it would be just nice for Nada's school timing. Harris on the other hand leaves early and gets to get home early too.

While at home after Harris fetches her, Nada never fails to call me on my hand phone to ask where would I be. It's the same routine day in and day out.

Nada : Mommy, where are you?
Mommy : I'm in the office.
Nada What are you doing? You late la Mommy..
Mommy : I'm working
Nada : Working ? What are you working?
Mommy : I draw, I write letters... bla-bla-bla.

As an Architect, among the many in our job list, we have to carry out submissions to Local Authority to obtain plan approvals prior building construction commencement.

I had a site inspection in Sentul first half of the day today. Then, I planned to head to P.J for the plans submission. On my way, I thought I'd just drop by at our home for Zohor and may be a mug of nescafe, that's when I decided to bring Nada along accompanying me for this work task.
So, I fetched her at her Nanny's and... yup she accompanied me to Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya! I told her : "Mommy is to submit plans today.. " She nodded her head, likewise she understood!

Unloading tonnes of plans from the car boot, I made her presence appreciated by asking her help to carry an envelope containing some documents.

She was P.R.O.U.D!

My objective at MBPJ, however didn't accomplish. I really got dizzy with Authorities changing forms every month in the name of upgrading system!... Apa yang upgrade.. I really don't know. So, yes.. my plans were not submitted today, because there's new form format to be filled. Dang!

I've got no choice, but to carry my plans back to the car. I tell you.. those plans weighs as much as I do. Damn heavy okay. Nada realized, I was struggling with those heavy stuff.

As we left MBPJ compound, I asked Nada if she now knows what Mommy does for work?

She answered : "Ya.. you meet officer (she learnt that word today, Mommy taught her, yeay!)
There's few other answers but the best was : "Mommy works carry plans..." Waaaaaaaa....

We also treat ourselves a dine together, just the two of us today. Here's us on camera self-timer set by Nada (I don't know how..)

1st shot and I told her :"Why you smile like that. It looks fake."

Ok Mom!

 

2nd shot : More like it. Do excuse my greasy face. Not a spat of powder or a touch of lipstick. How do I ever get out of this cincainess?