Whats in a name..

Sent my MyVi for an aircond service yesterday. With the current weather and the forthcoming travelling plans, I need to be comfortable in my car. It was a one-day job (something about the old MyVi design, that needs the total upheaval and removal of the dashboard in order to service/check the air cond) and the "Boss" said it will be ready in half an hour's time when I called him at 6pm.


Got Faiz to send me over and after some discussion with "Boss", got myself a tiny bit of discount (enough to get me a plate of fried chicken!). Boss clipped his business card to the bill and when I glanced at the name on the card, I asked him, "Ini nama boss?".
Boss:  "Ya lor.. nama saya yang belakang itu." 
Me:  "You tahu apa makna nama ini dalam bahasa inggeris?"
Boss:  "Tak tahu"
Me:  "itu makna kutu"
Boss:  "Haaa???"
Me:  "kutu"
Boss:  "Aiyooo.."


  I also found out it is also for the correct sign.

The name on the card was "T I C K".

Khairin And I - Kueh

Decidedly hungry, I wanted to stop at a nearby stall selling pisang goreng (or orang Johor kata goreng pisang) and kueh. 

Mama:  KA nak kueh apa?

Khairin:  Nak kueh yang bawah dia pulut, atas dia kueh

Mama:  Haa?? (Tahu yang dia mahukan kueh seri muka)

Abang2:  Kueh nasi..

Mama:  Nama kueh tu seri muka lah.

Stopped at the stall and KA said, "Ma, kalau ada donut, nak jugak".

Mama:  Donut atau keria?
Khairin:  Mana2 boleh asal bulat (???)


~~
Khairin:  Ma, kueh hijau tu siapa punya?
Mama:  Buah melaka lah.. makan lah, lom ada siapa2 yang punya.


Khairin:  Yang dalam daun pisang ni apa?
Mama:  Lepat ubi
Khairin:  Macam mana tu? Een tau lepat pisang je..yang ada pisang dalam dia.
Mama:  Makan je lah.  (Dalam hati.. adoiyai..parah anak dara aku tak belajar ERT).
Khairin:  Een nak vadai je lah. Sedap.


My daughter can make chocolate chip cookies or brownies. She prefers cekodok chocolate chip sebab dia tak suka cekodok pisang and cucur bilis or udang banyak kerja. Her friends insist she brings mashed potatoes and gravy whenever they have potluck. She can even cook buttered prawns. Buy her sengkuang or jambu, she can concoct a very pedas (lots of cili api) kuah rojak. But kueh melayu..dia hopeless.

Khairin And I - Rindu?

Perut dah mula rasa pedih. Soalan biasa nak memilih port makan.


Mama:  Mana nak cari mee bandung sedap ek?
Khairin:  Tanjung Malim


Mama:  Hah?? Mana?
Khairin:  Tanjung Malim, PLKN..  **laughs**


Memang sah anak aku rindu boot camp dia. Dia dah buat plan dengan budak2 camp to hold a reunion next week.


Abang2:  Hey, orang reunion lepas 10 tahun ke.. lepas dah keluar U ke.. Ini belum pun 10 minggu dah nak buat reunion. Apa cer????


Nak bagi ke tidak? Rumah ni ada ruling. KA boleh keluar ONLY if accompanied by an Abang. Masaalah nya, Abang yang mana nak escort dia.


~~ 

Fatin And I ~ Fatin poo poo

Fatin dah siap mandi. Mama pakaikan pampers dan baju kaler Barney. Bila siap, Uncle Faiz hulur tangan dan swing Fatin up and up, over his shoulder and sit her on his shoulders. Fatin menjerit, "Atin poo poo, Atin poo poo". Panic makcik kecik nie.


Suruh Uncle turunkan dia cepat2. Takut jugak dia "terlabur" atas bahu. Berlari Fatin mencari Mama. Mama yang kelihatan penat, layan jugak lah. Bukak pampers and pimpin Fatin ke toilet. Takde apa2 pun yang keluar. Hish.. makcik kecik nie buat kacau je. 

Fatin And I ~ Poyoco Pintu

Fatin sat down beside me. I had my ipad in my hands and was playing solitaire. She told me, "Nak Poyoco". I corrected her "PO-CO-YO". She ignored me and pointed at the ipad and repeated "Poyoco". Apa-apa lah Fatin.. So I goggle search Pocoyo and selected one. 


Viewed this with Fatin.. --Pocoyo Door

When Pocoyo said "Door", I said, "Door". Fatin said "Pintu". I said "Door".. but Fatin was adamant, "PINTU". Fatin menang.. tak kuasa Oma nak melawan.


Cute jugak Pocoyo ni..very colourful and simple english. No wonder kids love it.

Maid Story - #2 Kakak Busuk

Maid #1 Miah's tenure ended when we personally delivered her back to her parents. We survived without a maid for a few weeks before sister-in-law called to say they have another kampong girl for us.

So off we went to a tiny village in Kedah. I can't for the life recall Maid #2's name. She lives with her family in a typical kampong house on stilts. Lantai dapur pun tanah sahaja. 

On the way back from Kedah, we stopped at a restaurant to get dinner as it was already late and I am too tired to even think about cooking. Suddenly my nose caught an absolute stench, I looked around and spotted the communal bin in a back lane, nearby. I thought the stench came from that bin, so I hurried hubby to drive off.

The next day, I took leave to 'train' (so to speak) new maid. During my conversation with her, I found out that she previously worked with a family in Johor. Okay..running-in the new maid would be easy, I thought, since she already have working experience. What I didn't expect was, "Masa saya kerja dulu, majikan suruh saya jaga anak2, beri saya tengok TV dan tape sahaja (Really???) Ada majikan yang suruh maid tengok tv ek?

But my son refuse to go to her, saying the only word we understand.."busuk". So I wasn't imagining the stench the other night, that it came from the maid! I gave her sweet smelling soap, shampoo and other toiletries to clean herself. I even gave her deodorant, teaching her how to use it. I gave her new clothes. But it didn't work. It was like the bad smell ooze out with her sweat!

And if the one year old retaliates, what can we do but send the maid back after just 1 week. So it was back to granny for Azhar (my first born).

Happy 31st Anniversary - Not!

"A sad thing in life is when you meet someone who means a lot to you, only to find out in the end that it was never meant to be and you just have to let go".

I let go. I know I will be happier. Why bother to hold on and suffer in silence.

~~~~~~~

I am happy. I have the most considerate sweetheart who thrives to make me happy. And my wonderful sons who takes care of me. I have the sweetest grand daughter and another grand child on the way. I have a daughter-in-law who is a good sister to my children and kawan berbincang about woman stuff

  to everyone. Thank you Allah..

Maid Story - #1 Miah

Hearing my friend's search of a maid, brought back memories of my life when I was dependent on them. 

Beginning with my first born, we seek the help of family and relatives in Kedah to find us a maid. We ended up with Miah*. We went to her parents house somewhere in Guar Cempedak area. She turns out to be a lovely kampung girl complete with hair so long, it was past her waist. We brought her back to KL and then shipped her off to JB to stay with my mom. The deal was for her to help out my mom as well as to learn how to care for the baby. Life with my mom was easy, as granny did most of the work anyway. So much so, Miah had time to 'menebeng' at the neighbours' house, makan jambu air cicah kicap/cili. Everytime, Granny wanted her help, she had to call Miah back from the neighbours. Miah also got granny to trim her hair.

So, after settling in our new rented house, we finally brought back Miah and baby to KL. Each morning, I have to shake and rattle Miah's door to wake her up. Well, we can't just leave the baby alone can we? Dengan rambut mengerbang macam hantu, Miah takes the baby and we leave for work. At times, I come home early to find baby asleep in the baby walker and Miah in the bathroom. Miah said, "Adik tertidor masa Miah bagi dia makan tadi". From the neighbours, I found out that Miah befriended the Indonesian contractor workers living in the house across the road. As she hangs out the washing, the Mamat Indon will come over and they end up chatting while the washing ends up drying in the laundry basket! Miah's long hair is a bane too! She keeps on requesting for all types of shampoo. At this time, I was still using Johnson Baby Shampoo (tak pedihkan mata!) and Miah was asking for New and Trendy. Everytime we clean the car, we find many many long strands of hair stuck to the car seat.

When we start having maids, I too start my PI work. We can't trust them wholeheartedly. This was when I found out that Miah was planning to quit work giving the excuse that her mom needs her help back home. So, I told the father, we have to send Miah back before she runs off on her own and her parents blame us for not taking care of their daughter. So macam mana kita ambil dia, kita pulangkan elok elok pada parents dia jugak. Later we found out that Miah was actually afraid her boyfriend would run off, if she stayed in KL for too long. Soon after her return, she was married off to the boyfriend.

We asked granny to come and stay with us until we get a new maid.

Re-post (2/4/2004) - Drivers

1. One hand on steering wheel, one hand on horn : IPOH driver.
2. One hand on wheel, one hand out of open window, with cigarette : KEPONG driver
3. One hand on wheel, one finger out of window, cutting across all lanes of traffic : DOWN TOWN KUALA LUMPUR driver.
4. One hand on wheel, one hand holding parang, foot solidly on accelerator : JOHOR driver.
5. One hand on wheel, one hand on non-fat double decaf cappuccino, cradling cell phone, brick on accelerator, hands-free in lap : BANGSAR driver.
6. Both hands on wheel, both eyes shut, both feet on brakes, quivering in terror : FOREIGNER driving in MALAYSIA.
7. One hand on 12 oz. double shot Latte, one knee on wheel, talking on cell phone, foot on brakes, mind on radio game, banging head on steering wheel while stuck in traffic : SUBANG JAYA driver on the Federal Highway.
8. One hand on wheel, one hand on passenger's head rest, alternating both feet on brakes and accelerator, throwing rambutans skin or durian shells out of window on the Karak Highway : KUANTAN driver.
9. Four-wheel driver pick-up truck, READY-TO-KILL attitude, rear windows stickers which read "Make My Day", beer cans on floor, wedding ribbon still attached to radio antenna : PUCHONG CONSTRUCTION SITE driver.
10. One hand on the hand phone, another hand picking nose, one leg on the dash board, another leg crossed on the seat with a beer can in the middle, turning anywhere he likes, parking anywhere he likes, in fact driving anywhere he likes. Aaahh...this is a heaven for drivers.. Welcome to PENANG!
11. Driving with child in lap/child standing between driver and steering wheel, occasionally with headlights off in the dead of the night : BANDAR BARU BANGI driver.
12. Going off road and squeezing back into the main traffic and/or queue jumping, that will be HULU LANGAT drivers.
13. Two hands gripping steering wheel tightly, eyes glued to windscreen, alternately stepping on the accelerator and brakes EVERY 5 seconds. The drivers that have special mention in Malaysian Parliament.

This is a collection I got from a friend plus additional comments.

Words of Wisdom (IV)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**  The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. 

**  Brain cells come and brain cells go, but FAT cells live forever. Arghhh!!!!

**  Age doesn't always bring wisdom. Sometimes age comes alone. 

**  Life not only begins at forty, it also begins to show. Hahaha..

**  You don't stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old because you stopped laughing. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TG*IF..

Late last nite, Faiz popped into my room (in his usual cute way, bouncing and half hopping) and announced that Azri dah sampai. My first instinct was to look at the digital clock-- 23.20-- and retorted, "Kata nak balik jumaat, apsal awal plak!" Hahaha.. he was after all 40 minutes early , so it wasn't friday yet!

Yes, son #3 got out from work and hopped on his trusty 'kriss' and came home. Work is in Senai, Johor and home is BBBangi, Selangor. Tired of nagging and scolding him about travelling on the old bike for long distance, now I just resort to lots of prayers.

~~~~~

This morning, woke up and went on auto-pilot.. First stop, is to let my japanese laundry lady start her work, on the way back passed the fridge and took out the marinated tandoori chicken and plonked it in the microwave. Slam shut the door and turn the knob up 2 minutes. Walked to the lounge and turn off the porch lights and open the sliding doors to let the early morning air in. Picked up the pillows (that somehow will always be on the floor), fluff it up and arrange it nicely on the couch, and then walk back into bedroom.

Jump back into bed and (not forgetting to switch off the air-cond) pull up the blankets. Go on snooze. Just then KA got up, she has to go to school for her rehearsal (prize giving day tomorrow). Heard Faiz get into his bathroom. Arghhh.. am not allowed my snooze after all.

~~~

Since the kids are all at home today, Mama decides to cook. Something I had not done for quite sometime now. Hehehe.. while ransacking through the freezer, I saw bag full of some unidentifiable things inside. Threw them in the sink, let it defrost before I decide what becomes of them. After hanging out the laundry, came back into the kitchen and what-do-you-know... the "things" turn out to be bones. I have vague memories of buying them way back..raya haji??

Chuck the bones in the pressure cooker and while that was puffing and whistling away, rummaged through the fridge to see what I could throw in the soup. Hmm.. celery, carrots and potatoes. 

Ok, that's the menu for today. Rice with tandoori chicken and sop tulang.

~~~

After all that cooking, takde selera nak makan. That is why I don't cook. I don't like to eat what I cook. **sigh**  Where can I get buah berangan (chestnuts).. teringin lah pulak..

Words of Wisdom (III)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**  In just two days, tomorrow will be yesterday. 

**  I am having an out of money experience. 

**  I plan on living forever. So far, so good. 

**  A day without sunshine is like night. 

**  It's frustrating when you know all the answers, 
but nobody bothers to ask you the questions. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday and Teechurs.. sigh..

Wednesday and just like yesterday, we woke up late and had to rush through breakfast so that we reached DryClean2U before 9am..and we were in time! I went home and was still in the car, when a man approached me. Oh yes, the T*nB contractors who were supposed to move the meter to a more visible place (facing the gate) are here. I waited for them the whole of yesterday but they never reached my house and by evening it rained. I told them to wait abit while I checked if my japanese maid has completed doing the washing. I don't want the clothes to be in the machine mid spin..hehe.. Power was cut off and that got my boys down from their rooms. Hahaha.. otherwise it would be much2 later in the day, that they would eventually stroll down. They would rather stay in bed with their laptop, facebooking.

After hanging out the laundry, I went into my room to play "Angry Birds". I was perspiring so hard that I had to wipe my hand each time I wanted to catapult the birds. Haish.. can't stand the heat. Suddenly I heard three pings, I looked up and saw the electric clock blinking away. Ahhhh.. power is back! 

Teechurs Incident No.1

Check my FB and I came across a video clip from VY. Teechurs doing the poco2 on stage! It was Teachers Day and the teechurs were showing their "skill" doing the poco2. oooammgeee.. they were so carried away, sampai singkap kain separuh betis! Ahh..ini memang sah 'haramz'. Then someone else tagged other videos of teechurs from the same school doing a fashion show and group dancing in the courtyard, with the school kids sitting on the ground forced to watching them. Macam tak hengat donia! Never had these 'performances' by my teechurs in my days.

I bucked up and went to My*Din to get yoghurt. I planned to make some tandoori chicken and was out of yoghurt. Got my things and was standing in line to pay. I was behind some ladies with so much stationeries in their trolley.

Teechurs Incident No.2
Teechur : Beli banyak nie, ada diskaun tak?
Cashier : Nanti sekejap ye kak.
Teechur : Harga fail ni RM2.90, sekolah kami selalu beli dari sini. Bagi lah kami RM2.50 ke.

After consulting her supervisor, Cashier punched the calculator and showed the teechurs a figure. I peeked and saw RM1.90.

Cashier : Saya boleh bagi harga nie. (showing the figure on the calculator)


Teechur looked abit disappointed, called out to her friend 


Teechur : Ani, meh sini. Dia kata harga fail ni RM1.90.
Cashier : Kurang singget tu kak.
Teechur : Ani, dia bagi harga singget.
Cashier : Tak kak, harga dia RM1.90, kurang singget.
Teechur : Bole lah. Dengan muka macam tak puas hati.
Cashier : (blurr)


Those aren't maths teechurs, I assume. **sigh**


~~~

My chicken tandoori is marinating in the fridge. Now to coax my oven to life...

Sundays..

3-3-2011

I had made plans to go visit my newest grand daughter, Mya Humayra as well as our once in a blue moon visit to Bubba Gump to celebrate Khairin's good SPM results.

First stop, however was at my adik's house for breakfast. She got us nasi ambeng. Makanan orang jawa johor. Nasi putih berlauk sambal tumis, mee goreng, serunding kelapa, sejuring ikan masin, sayur kacang panjang goreng and rendang daging. Memang mengenyangkan!

Left the house with my sister and brother in law. I was immensely annoyed when the driver decides to answer phone calls and messages that comes in (even when a police car drove by his unser!) Adoiii...

We finally arrived safely in PJ. Oooooo...baby is even cuter in real life. Kacau and kejut dia. Hehehe.. kawan baru je sudah menyusu and sedang sedap berbedung. Tak berdecet walaupun we were making alot of noise in the room. 

Datin was busy cooking with Dr Su and Cik Nah. And before we knew it, we were called out for lunch. As usual, Datin outdid herself. There was sambal tumis ikan bilis, ikan rebus goreng, kari daging, rojak singapore, sayur campur (goreng), telur goreng dadar and a to-die-for sambal belacan. I was amazed to see my kids mengambil nasi yang banyak. Bearing in mind that we have Bubba Gump planned after this, I only took one senduk nasi. Memang sedap masakan Datin. Pencuci mulut was rambutan yang sudah di kupas siap2 (betul best untuk orang malas macam I). Then there was hot coffee too.

We finally took our leave and we went off in the Alza pulak. It was a bit tight but knowing how difficult it is to get parking in the Curve, we decided to just go there in one car. Oh dear! so many2 cars and people. We had to drive around slowly in the car park and made a dash when we saw an empty lot. Hehehe.. we were going against the flow of traffic but fortunately no car was coming from the other side. Walked across to the Curve. Shopped awhile (mostly window shopping) before heading to Bubba Gump. Just like in the movie Forrest Gump, this themed restaurant serves mainly shrimps. Took a table on the upper floor where there is air cond. Got ourselves a big enough table and placed our orders. 

I asked for "Run Across America Sampler" which is all the appetizers favorites consisting of tortillas chips and a cheesy dip, chilly shrimp (chilled boiled shrimp), hush pups (prawn balls?) and fried shrimps, as well as spicy chicken strips (perah lemon lagi sodap).

The thick cuts of onion rings came piled high on a stick for Fatin's mama. Fatin's ayah asked for the "Bucket of boat trash" which consist of fried shrimps and slipper lobster tails with fries.

Faiz tastebuds is hard to change, so he went for the All American burger which is humongous. Khairin wanted the soup which she said tasted almost like tom yam. Faizal didn't know what to order, so I got him shrimps with crabmeat. Words can't describe the ummm-so-yummy food. We did not go overboard with the drinks and just ordered the bottomless coke.

Drive home baru teringat that I can't eat too much shrimps (prawns). No wonder lah my eyes and lips feel itchy. Hehehe.. Arrived home, took a bath quickly and hunted for my ubat. Played with Fatin (entertained her with the numerous games on my ipad).

~~~~~~~~~~

After Fatin and parents went home, Faiz and Khairin went to Subang Jaya and Faizal was going out with girlfriend. I started changing bedsheets and cleaning my room. Oooo..so tired. Fell asleep as soon as I lay my head on the pillow. Zzzzzzz.....