Just Stuffs

Child (in stern tone) : Daddy, put your T-shirt in the laundry bag!
Daddy : What if I don't?
Child : You go to Aunty Jeanne('s) office. * Aunty Jeanne is a pre-school principal *
Daddy : What would Daddy do in Aunty Jeanne's office?
Child : You have to drink Hot Soup!

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How's 2012 so far? It's been a week.

We started the year with treating ourselves watching "We bought a Zoo" movie at TGV, KLCC during the Public Holiday. Today, we made an impromptu visit again to TGV, 1 Shamelin for MI : Ghost Protocol. What is it about Hollywood, ya? They could make even the simplest movie plot like "We bought a Zoo" so interesting. Full of humor, emotions and values at the same time. They could also make the 'nonsense' plot of Ghost Protocol so real and believable beyond doubts.

Tomorrow, Nada's pre-school will re-open. It's just so cliche to say again and again, but it is so true. Time flies. In 3 weeks time she'll be four. When we celebrated Harris's birthday last end December, she was not happy that it was not hers.
She said the cake was not nice. It should be in triangle with princess and Ben 10. I don't exactly get the idea of combining princess and Ben 10.. and a triangle cake?

Anyway, since Year 2007, Harris would thought I would forget his Birth day because yes, I did forget on that year. I was heavily pregnant and I had nothing else on my mind besides the then delivery and believe it or not... I was so drown in thinking of how would I leave my office works in peace. (My boss is lucky)

So for his 40th birthday last year, a surprise would be interesting eh. I booked a place for dinner to celebrate. He was supposed to drive to the unknown location under my direction. When I said drive to Jalan Ampang, he guessed : Papa Rich, Hadramawt..
He drove until Flamingo Hotel and I said : take up AKLEH. Earlier guesses ruled out.

Then took Jalan Ampang towards KLCC, he guessed : PELITA NASI KANDAR! beep! wrong.
Took Jalan Stonor, he guessed : PNB Darby Park. beep! wrong again.
Once we reached the Oval traffic light, he made another guess - The Royale Chulan!.. and he was right this time.
My husband : he has maps in his brain.

Hopefully, we would figure out a memorable birthday treat for Nada too. Earlier, I asked her "Nada sayang Mommy banyak ke? sayang Daddy banyak?" She hugged us both and said "Sayang banyak Mommy, Daddy.." diplomatic answer. 

I do wonder who would she loves more.. "Daddy carries her all the time while Mommy pushes the stroller." 

Beijing in Grey

We arrived at Beijing International Airport as early as 6.30 am and were notified by the flight captain of the local temperature being 1 degree Centigrade.
Having our luggage claimed, we got ourselves prepared with the winter outfit to embrace the out of airport coldness.
As we exit the airport, cold wind came gushing to greet us.
The moment we opened our mouth to say “Wah....sejuk”, fog was formed by our face.

Definitely, a ‘jakun’ like me whom is living in a tropical country got all excited about it and told my daughter – “Come Nada, let’s play dragon”.

We blew at each others face and I explained to her.
“It happens because our body temperature is hotter than the outside. So, when warm, moist air that we breathe out from our lungs meets the cold, dry environment, a fog forms”
My three about to be four year old (sobs) daughter looked at me in full fascination, but I know deep inside her she was saying “What on earth is Mommy talking about?”

It’s ok girl, you’ll ‘get there’ one day… all Mommy hope is for you to remember the moment that ‘we play dragon’.

Not 5 minutes loading luggage into the bus body, all of us just can’t wait to get into the bus and hid from the wind. I guess, the temperature is not that bad to bear.. but the wind is too ‘cruel’.

We had Chinese Fried Rice, Toast Bread with Butter & Sugar and hot Chinese Tea at a local Muslim restaurant for breakfast. Bliss.

Itinerary for Day 1 was to visit Summer Palace and shopping stop, however it was changed to visit Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City also followed by a shopping stop.
We made way on foot to Tian An Men Square approximately 200m from the location that our bus stopped. I could smell the stinky smell of urine along our walk. Errgh!

By then, Nada was already not happy with almost everything on the planet.
She hates for her neck to be surrounded with the muffler.
She hates to wear the gloves.
She hates for her head to be covered with jacket hood, that the furs and feathers of the hood annoyed her.
She blames the jacket makes her fat and she no longer fit into stroller.
She blames Mommy that the stroller is too small for her now.
She blames her high cut boots that when she sits, they cut into back of her knee.
She was angry to the wind blowing fiercely to her face.

The person I am, I came to a point of “Ok, let’s take off whatever you don’t like.. and see how you could survive..”

With no hesitation I took off her jacket, muffler and gloves, let her sit on the stroller and Harris pushed her. She was shivering, her hands turned pink subsequently red and icy cold but still one stubborn baby, not wanting to give in.

Of all the things, why la you get this stubbornness gene from Mommy, Nada! Haishh.

However, she’s lucky that she has her dad to save her… save the day… or it almost-almost-almost became the next day news headline “Malaysian architect tourist let baby frozen in the middle of Tian An Men Square, and 2000 passers by did nothing..”

Harris told me : “Put them back, pity her…..”
Harris is such a soft spoken person, I dare not argue. Could he had shouted to me, may be I got Nada naked there and then.

Look at her face.. saying "I love Daddy"

Tian An Men Square is what we have here as Dataran Merdeka. Of course it has it’s own history and all the important historical events that had taken place which you could just google to know more about it. In my eyes, it is just a super-huge open space, cordoned by Beijing landmarks such as Forbidden City and The Great Hall of People.

We then proceeded to the Forbidden City (FC).

She complaint that her gloves is inappropriate, Daddy had to sacrifice his and let her had them.

Now, FC is a real something of an eye opening. It is a complex almost in square if I’m not mistaken of about 900+m in length x 750+m in width that is fenced with high brick wall. Don’t trust my figures here, ok… I am not a North Korean. Exact numbers, please google.

We may have the idea of FC here and there from the many Chinese soaps or movies we watch on TV. Where it has own spaces for everything. Space for the Emperor, Queen, Prince, Princess, Relatives, Concubine, Ministers, Sida-sida (what is sida-sida in English?), armies, servants, slaves.. and so much more. Those living inside the FC were forbid to go out and those living outside were forbid to go in unless the Emperor said so. Hence, the name Forbidden City.

I remembered watching documentary about Forbidden City on National Geography, and having the opportunity to visit the place, all is so cleared.

This place is an Emperor’s place.

Thousands of years ago, who could actually make the place happened if he’s not someone with extreme power. He must be an Emperor! Money or gold is one thing but power is more important in this case because FC is of slaves’ sweat. *Sedih, ek… Mek is just emo, like that*

We walked and past the many gates, halls, rooms, inside FC, until I lost count. It was also because we had to tend to Nada whom needed so much encouragement and coaxing during our this trip. Like I said, she was not happy with everything.

She doesn't want to walk.. unlike usual.

In National Geography documentary, it mentioned how the slaves mobilized the pieces of marble from the quarry to FC. Sure it was a tough job... it's huge, a piece!

The only downside of FC is the public toilet! I shall not elaborate further, I’d just shout “Aaaaaarrrgghhh…. Do better ones!!!!!!!” and blabber … “Dah kutip duit juta-juta… buat toilet baik sikit tak boleh ke??????”

Last activity for the day was shopping stop at Wang Fu Jing Street, We knew it would just be see-look on that very first day, however of what had happened earlier, an objective was set. BUY NADA ANOTHER PAIR OF GLOVES.

127 Hours

I watched 127 Hours movie in our flight back home from Beijing (I hope I’ll be able to document my opinion about the trip later…) and I love it so much!. It was my kind of movie.

I always have a bias towards actual events movies and epics. Those fictions the like, Lord of The Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and such could make me sleep in the cinema.
I knowwwww… I am boring! But what to do, I just can’t take it I’d rather watch “the makings of them” or just pure cartoons.

So, may be many of you know about this movie, but I really don’t.
It is about Aron Ralston, a mountaineer whom got his right hand pinned by a boulder against canyon wall due to an accident drop. After being trapped for 127 hours, he got himself freed by the only way he got, that was to amputate his own hand.
He did so by breaking the bones and cutting the flesh and nerves using a blunt kit knife. Isn’t that really something extra ordinary? To top it up, he had to descend a 65ft canyon wall with one useable hand all by himself using whatever tools he had and further walked until he could reach for help.
I thought this man is amazing I couldn’t resist myself but to google more about him once I reached home. There were so many articles about him since the incident happened back in 2003, that he is now a motivational speaker, still an avid mountaineer, appeared in many life talk shows, cast in survival reality shows and even being a host to tv programs...

Where have I been for these 8 years that I know nothing about this man?

Aron describes whatever he did in the canyon as “Not losing his hand, but gaining his life back”. I salute him for being so positive towards LIFE.

I believe the strong will he has to live makes him sees things differently. And I also believe, the exposures, the opportunities his parents given him nurtured him in a way. There was a scene in the movie while Aron was trapped, he had a hallucination of him as a boy sleeping at the back of a car. His father then woke him up, carried him while he was still blurry, walked towards an edge of a Grand Canyon wall to watch the sun rises. The father’s line was something like “Hey buddy, wake up.. watch this…..”
When there were many of my favorite and heart pounding scenes in the movie, this one made me shed tears and the most significant to me. (Yeah.. I watch movies that I like with all my heart…)

Parents guidance is so important in shaping a person, I’ve long realized. Most people that are successful or outstanding in whatever field sure thanked their parents the most.
Richard Branson of Virgin always associates his parents in daring him to do the impossible.
The late Prof. Randy Pausch remembered his parents in always giving him opportunities, the simplest thing of letting him to paint his room wall.If you haven't listen to 'The Last Lecture', I strongly recommend for you to google and do so. It's worth it.
The late Steve Jobs of APPLE, though never acknowledge his biological father, sees his adopted parents as creating a path for him.

I so hope I am giving my best to always open up opportunities to my own girl either with my direct or indirect actions. The ways things should be seen in a broad picture. Knowledge is not just pen and papers. World and universe are to be own and shared.

My aunt, Cik Jah is lucky to have 8 children. She wishes all of her children to be around her, live near to her. Do things around her. Some people that I know, have the idea of their children to be schooling near home all the time.

But me, I don’t mind my girl to fly. To fly free as high as she wants, while it is my duty to once a while remind her that ground is still the place she stands.

And so Mommy asked her : “Nada, do you like Beijing?”
She answered : “No, don’t like Beijing, I like hotel..”
Mommy : “Why ?”
Nada : “Beijing (she meant outdoor) got whiuh-whiuh-whiuh (both hands showing wind blowing vigorously to her face). Beijing so cold, Mommy.”

Mommy likes that she has her own opinion.

Brrrrr........

o.. so cold!

We have..

In the yard... some old ones, some new ones...

In the box... new Boots!.. extreme cuteness

.. in packing for hols trip mood

Diaper bag and Make-up kit

Dinosour vs mankind on Mount Fuji

I meant to blog about this for many weeks, however only now it happen. Better late than never, eh?

My friend from school, Sabine who is now raising her family somewhere in Oz requested me to make her daughter a make-up kit and a diaper bag for herself on commission.

Gosh! It was a big request. I’d never make a make up kit or a diaper bag before.

So, with basic of my own on-the-go sewing kit organizer, I whip up the make-up kit. I'm so cincai.. i don't even have proper full make up set to compliment the kit for photo sake !... It has three slots zippered pockets at lower part for small items.

wrap around ribbon tie.

As for the diaper bag, I made reference to this tutorial, this blog and my self figured comforter bag that I made sometime back.

Results turned out to be like this :

FRONT Rear zippered pocket

Side pockets......one with elastic grip, one with velcro closure. I told Sabine she may want to replace the measuring tape with a stethoscope since she is a doctor.

tiny pocket on the strap for small items.. thumb drive, mp3, earphone... stuffs like that.

inside bag..

This diaper bag was the second item in my handmade list that I made following step by step tutorial after the booties. Oh! Frankly, I'm not comfortable to follow tutorials. It kinda make me nervous if I miss a step or do not understand the steps.

I didn’t exactly follow the measurement given in the tutorial because my friend has two babies of about to be 1yo and 2yo, hence I figured she needed bigger bag than the given measurement to put diapers and stuffs of use by double!

I also added the stroller hang referring to Aida’s blog and changed one outer side pocket to elastic grip rather than Velcro closure provided in the tutorial.

It took me one weekend to finish up the bag, with all the interval breaks… the like entertaining the princess cum ultraman, house chores, eating out and brought-home office works (blerggh)!

All in all, I gave myself 3 marks out of 10 with reasons :

1. 5 marks out of 10 is given to the person who came out with the tutorial and the blog that I made reference to for I was be able to sew this bag. So I was only left with 5 marks.
2. 2 marks out of 5 due to me was minus upon my mistake in putting the magnetic snap, that I had to re-do.

Simple arithmetic, 10-5-2 equals 3 marks which were valued for me.

On another note, I gave myself full 10 marks for making Sabine happy. She was very satisfied with her bag and asked me to make two more make-up kit because her daughter’s grooming stuff couldn’t fit into one. (booo to me... a 9 year old has more make-up than me !)

Both make up kit and diaper bag were sent to Sabine through a school friend, Aida whom is also living Oz that came back for Aidilfitri holidays.

Aida and me. I almost terjun longkang looking at this mother of two still slim figure!

Sabine paid me some RM 400 (about.. can't remember the exact figure already la) for both… Good? That covers our two weekend visits to The Butcher Steak House. Okay what…..

I have another request from school friend for the bag which I had been procrastinating. She wants to use it for her frequent travels. So I’ve figured it would be something to have :

1. Zippered pocket in the inside for passport, wallet & hand phone

2. Padded slot for I-pad or compact laptop

3. Elastic grip pocket at side for water bottle

4. Small pockets at outside with Velcro closure for card tickets like Octopus card, whatever necessary according to that particular country.

5. Slots for pens

6. The strap should be long enough that she could have it cross her shoulder.

How I want to make for her, but my time is so limited.

Arghhhhh… I love to create things………

Jalan-jalan

I am sure most of us watched the CCTV record of a two year old girl in Beijing being ramped down by vehicles driven by two stupid-crazy-human-at-it’s-lowest-sense-being-a-homosapien. And those 15 who did nothing are equally bad.

We were angry and saddened by end of the episode.

It left shivers in my spine and I was speechless. My perception towards Chinese-China is even more grounded. K.I.A.S.U.

Ya, this ‘langgar-lari’ happens anywhere including here in my own country! Indeed, it is a sad thing. But I am sure it doesn’t need the 18^th person to have courtesy to help here. I really hope so!

I read a thread comment on Youtube if I can remember it’s something saying that people in China are also outraged towards the incident.

But then, come on! 1 out of 18 only did care of a laying blooded child body in a busy market! Kalau difikir.. macam tak masuk akal….. It is a large pool of heartless people if we take consideration of 1.4 billion China's population, isn't it?

True enough, Made in China. My boss always says "You can find, have, make anything in China..."

• Invent eggs. Feed people poison = get rich! Yuan..yuan..yuan…
• Baby formula + poison. Feed babies = get rich! Yuan..yuan.. yuan..
• Knock a child down. Better knock twice so she’ll die = save some Yuan! Richer by few thousands.

Sigh....

Despite terrified with the incident, I do look forward of our upcoming winter trip to Beijing soon. I believe the city itself has a lot to offer, or it could be just me who is always.. gatal kaki.

Hence, in preparation for the trip.. getting my family warm and cozy is the priority. I’d checked our coats, jackets, gloves, hats, muffler and wool socks. All are still in good condition, Harris and I don’t need any new ones. Errr... may be a couple of new socks will be good.

Ms Dew however, sure needs whole set for she hasn’t has any winter clothing as yet. This will be her first trip into the 'cold'. Well, she visited Bandung some 3 years back.. but Bandung is just cool not chill.

'We’re 85% done in getting her attire inclusive of new pairs of long john for us.

I’m still in the quest of getting her gloves, muffler, boots if possible (o! that Clarks children boots really caught my eyes - still thinking...) annnndddd adding to my list is a child harness! We are so gonna tie her with maximum distance of half a foot from us during our walks. Ok! I might be too much. May be ONE foot.

..wooot - wooot..

Oh Allah, instill in me, my family and friends good values so we would do good to ourselves and all around us. Amin.