Of roomies and beddies...

They say that to know a person better, you have to sleep with them. Or was it, you don't know a person well until you spent the night with them. Or something like that. (Please don't ask who the 'they' are, for I seriously don't have a clue!).

Yesterday some of my TKC batch-mates met up for - mini-reunion since Pat is back from Perth, celebrate the late bloomer's 50th birthday i.e. AnaM, celebrate other January babes...well, do we really need a reason to meet?

It was at the Hotel Majestic, opposite the former railway station. Sigh, love the building. Both, the railway station and the Majestic. Both so majestic and grand.

To add grandeur to the event, being held at the Majestic means we must all be 'majesties'. Well, for that short moment in time. Hence, the 3 fisters who worked hard to arrange the whole shinnanigans presented each and all 14 of us with crowns! Gasp...owh-my-gucci...teary eyed... which we must all wear throughout the hi-tea. Oh, we had our do at their famous Tea Room.

We know us better, we have all lived together - eat, sleep, studied, took part in sports, fought in good spirit, sneaked around late nights etc., for all of 5 growing-up years of our lives and for some, more. We know when we are among us, we just care that WE are there. The married us made sure our spouses give us the space to be 'us' us when we are together. And we are so fortunate our spouses do give us that, Alhamdulillah.

So anyway, since I am also one of those 'celebrated' being a January babe and all, besides the tiara which my family insisted I wear again on my actual birthdate, and the little note book for us to pen our own stories in, I got a birthday present from darlings Tun and Laila!

This morning I opened the paper bag containing the present...and I tell you, I am living proof of the saying that I used to start this entry with!

Green is my favorite color, I was in green house all my school years primary & secondary; my family has since 2 weeks ago re-started fruit juicing and the fruits we juiced daily are carrot & oranges; and the day before yesterday I wrote on the last page of my 2nd little recipe note-book!

Would you believe that...to get what I needed at the time when I need them! Alhamdulillah...for roomies and beddies!

 

Live the sunnah...let that be your resolution.

We who are Muslims will soon remember the birth of our beloved Prophet, Muhammad S.A.W. come 12 Rabi'ul Awal which falls on 24 January 2013, in sya Allah.

We declare our love and highest respect for this great man that Allah SWT has made His messenger. We condemn those who made fun of him, who taunt him and call him names so not suitable of a man of his stature.

From young, we were taught of this great man's habits and practices. Some we know by heart. Tahajjud, istikharah, dhuha...all these are part and parcel of our beloved Prophet's daily routine in his lifetime. Eventually they also form part of the practices in the lives of his close friends and followers.

In the Qur'an, the words of Allah SWT, is also mentioned time and again, for mankind to find solace in solat for in solat lie the answer to many predicaments and situations. Including in man's search for rezeki to fulfill our own needs and wants, and that of others.

So when you do add in your want-to-do list of resolutions come 2013 to consistently perform tahajjud, dhuha, istikharah or any of our Prophet's sunnah, do so because they are the practices of our beloved Prophet SAW. Not because of anyone else, not because we were told to do so by other people...successful or not.

Get our bearings correct lest we be misguided.



 

Family

This has been a month of tribulation for my mum's side of the family, in particular for her younger brother's family.

Last evening, Pak Lang Azizan was wheeled into the Operating Theatre of Hospital Tuanku Fauziah Kangar, Perlis. Finally after a few days of guessing game, the medical team decided he was ready to be operated on. The bruise and soreness that had afflicted 1 of his left toe had spread up. Earlier, his weakened heart condition did not help and resulted in the delayed operation.

I know my mum and her sister, Mak Nyah must be very anxious. I can sense this when I spoke to her earlier. I can imagine why. A few years ago, they lost their youngest brother, my Pak Su. That was devastating for the family. My mum in particular, would reminisce how she had envisaged herself to be the first to go, being the eldest and notwithstanding the fact she herself is not that great health-wise. Mak Nyah, with her heart condition + diabetes + hypertension, shared her sentiment.

Bapak may look all calm and collected but deep down, I am sure he must be living back the memory of his late older brother, our Wa Mid who had undergone a similar operation, also because of diabetes. Just like Pak Lang now. Wa Mid has since passed on; his operation was a success but his diabetic condition worsened and he succumbed to that eventually.

Pak Lang is now placed in the ICU of the hospital. As at the time of my writing, he is still in a coma. My sister who lives in Kangar, informed us that the medical team had to take out his leg from above the knee. My eyes teared up whenever I recall this piece of news. My own family are unable to be there, sadly. We can only make du'a from afar.

This is a trial Allah has bestowed on us all. Allah will not throw challenges in our way that He knows we are unable to face. His plans are the best and we have to redha and prepare ourselves to go through this better.

To the rest of us, especially my own family where Hanafy's side too has a history of diabetes, the underlying message from all this is to take better care of our inner and exterior beings that Allah has loan us.



  

Option; Toddlers/No Toddlers

What is it with me and babies/toddlers and airplanes???

Dear airline operators, I'd like to suggest you introduce a new product or service. An option to non-leisure travelers/passengers if they mind flying in an airplane that also carry families with toddlers aged below 5 regardless of gender.

Please, I don't hold grudges against this age group, what more their families. I too was once a toddler. I too once had toddlers...now, they are both tweens. I just want to enjoy the flight without having my seat kicked non-stop throughout the journey, without having sticky fingers patting my head once in a while with no firm reprieve from their parents (smiling or laughing it off ain't a reprieve, parents!), without screams and yells of restlessness from these young lungs, without temper tantrums for being told to sit in their seats...

And please, this service is certainly NOT discriminatory in action. On the contrary. It is merely giving an option, a choice to non-leisure/business passengers at the point of making their reservations. In fact, open this to leisure travelers, too. I'm pretty sure they'll welcome this option, too.

Just consider this idea...pretty please???

Rings that make the chain...

So bibik did not alight from the flight we booked her from Jogjakarta to LCCT on 15 September 2012. Was I mad? Was I angry? Was I upset? No, nope, naw. And neither was Hanafy. So were we expecting this? Also nope. Its just that, we went to the airport not expecting anything. Or better still, we went to the airport expecting anything!

I would be lying if I say that my emotions were not affected. In spite of her shortcomings which were plentiful, in spite of my not being as close to her as I was with the previous 2 helpers i.e. Yam & Nuzul, she did make life for me as a Work-From-Home-Mum easy. And she has been doing that for me, for us, almost 7 years.

On reflection, maybe bibik's not coming back was coming. A few days before her departure to Jogja, the cooking gas of the wet kitchen stove ran out. We decided not to buy a replacement just yet since in her absence, no one cooks in the wet kitchen. And last night, my hand accidentally knocked over a herb bottle that fell off the shelf and hit against a mug from the mug stand.

In the fall, that herb bottle remained in-tack. The mug? A huge chunk broke off, only 1 piece mind you, and the piece that broke is where one would drink out of. Ironically, that was bibik's mug.

Immediately Raihanah, who was in the kitchen with me when this happened, remarked that God is confirming something to me!
  

The Puzzle Pieces Will Fit...

We had 2 slots of outstation training during this period of no-bibik, both confirmed way before the aidil fitri break. With my mum due to have her eye operated on in that period, we had no choice but to call in for back-up from Singapore.

MIL took the train over accompanied by SIL # 3, with a cough. That took a turn for the worst after a spread of ketupat palas and pulut durian at Zirah's open house. That cough triggered her asthma. 2 clinics and 2 times on the nebuliser did not lessen her coughs. We started to worry - how can we then leave her to fend for the children in our absence? In her unwell condition?

When she went over to spend some days with SIL#1 in Gombak, SIL#1's hubby decided to take her along to Tawakal Hospital where she had an x-ray of her chest, blood test and the works. It seems her nose had water/liquid that lead to the coughs and all. So she's now better, and ready to roll so to speak. In fact, in spite of the coughs and asthma wheezing and all, she managed to get her hair cut and permed, and walked to the nearby shop in Gombak to get tudungs for her friends back home. All part of her ritual when she's here for any visits.

And our household? Allah has other plans. Better plans. The day MIL's cough worsened, I got news the 2 slots of outstation training has been postponed to the following month, when we are back to having bibik in the house. No doubt, this means a much felt dent in our income stream, but I am leaving that to Allah to fit in the puzzle pieces where He knows they belong...have faith in Allah's plans. 

Whose plan is this...?

MIL made her signature oats cookies and as expected, packed a bottle for my mum and one for my brother, Alang as he is fondly referred to. All these she sent up via my SIL and family who had gone back to Singapore for the aidil fitri break.

I didn't have the heart to tell MIL that the one bottle she baked and packed for Alang last aidil fitri had remained intact, seal still unbroken and still on the counter top where we had placed it.

As for my mum, well I didn't know how would I get her bottle of cookies over since from what we can see, there are no immediate or not-immediate plans of anyone going up north for work or leisure. And I wouldn't want to that bottle of oats cookies to go to waste, too.

Lo and behold, a few days later my sister called to tell us that she will be driving down with her husband, over the Merdeka weekend just to spend some time with her children. And us, of course. 

MasyaAllah, how cool it this? So my mum will get her oats cookies after all...

And whose plan is this?