Woman Version Forty:1

I turned 41 last 2 days.

 

Woman Version Forty:1 :-)

 

The elder 2 fixed breakfast (awwww how sweet). Overnight oat and infused water. I emerged from bathroom and they both gave me warm (and busuk masam sebab belum mandi) hug.

 

Adam made a promise to do telur mata. We even had a discussion the night before on how to go about doing it.

Breakfast came a little late coz the telur mata guy overslept. The mata all squished coz he broke the yolk while trying to crack open the eggs. We ended up with crossbreed of telur mata and omelette.

 

Perhaps among the best breakfasts I ever had.

 

And Happy 58th Independent Day for all Malaysians!

Edisi Menjahit - Pola & Nota Jahitan PJ Bottom @Seluar Tidur

Sewing is my passion. Walaupun saya claim ianya my passion, jangan expect jahitan tip top, kemas ala butik, or baju yang terletak cantik pada badan. InsyaAllah, one fine day in future. But for now, bertabah je lah dengan whatever level of quality he he.

Rabu lepas cuti. Ada appointment di Columbia Asia. This women ver 4.1 la katakan. I have this thing that is not supposed to be there. But since it doesn't bother me at all, Dr advised me to just leave it be. Alhamdulillah nothing calls for serious attention. But I have to go for follow-ups. Routinely. Appointment scheduled late morning so pagi tu sempat jahit PJ bottom for abang gebu kita, si Iman. Susah nak cari seluar kat kedai yang selesa untuk dia. So? Jahitlah kan. Tak perlu keluarkan duit beli kain coz I 'refashioned' kain pelikat abahnya yang dah koyak sikit.

 

Posted the result on fb .. and then ada orang mintak ajar. I am honoured but please be reminded I have no formal training untuk menjahit (except some basics kelas SRT masa sekolah menengah) and often, I used my gut- feeling. And of course trial and error. And I only sew for family members. Kalau terketat, terlonggar or whatever 'ter'.. opkos the complaints and grievances can be kept at minimum level. He he.

Anyway.

I am sharing with you all on how I measured and sewed PJ bottom Iman ni. Feel free to try tapi kalau tak menjadi seadanya... ampun sangat okay.

 

 

Mula-mula of course kena ambik measurement. Tips nya..

1. Masa measure jangan ukur ngam-ngam. (kecuali bahagian pinggang) Lebihkan ukuran ikut keselesaan.
2. Nak mudah, potong dulu kain empat segi ikut ukuran lebar a-g dan panjang i ke b.
 

 

Lepas measure, boleh lah buat pola. Saya tak buat pola kertas sebab saiz anak-anak cepat sangat berubah. Dan saya tak rajin nak ubahsuai pola kertas later on hehe. And then potong. Yang ni trickly sikit for beginners. Kita perlu dua bahagian seperti di bawah. Jangan potong dedua sama pulak,.. nanti dapat untuk sebelah kaki je. Satu bahagian untuk kaki kanan. Satu lagi untuk kaki kiri. Caranya, selesai potong bahagian 1, terbalikkan pola, dan potong untuk bahagian 2. Atau terbalikkan kain. 

 



 

 Lepas potong, tibalah kita kebahagian yang second exciting iaitu menjahit. Jahit dulu bahagian cawat. Yang belah kiri tu bahagian punggung. Yang kanan tu belah depan (Rujuk Rajah 1) Lepas tu jahit kaki pulak (Rujuk Rajah 2).

Kelepet bahagian pinggang untuk masukkan getah. Saya biasanya jahit dulu bahagian pinggang, tinggalkan lubang kira-kira 2 inci. Kemudian masukkan getah kat lubang tu. Cantum getah. Dan lepas tu jahit lubang 2 inci tadi. Kelepet tu mesti muat getahnya ya.

Seterusnya jahit kelim kaki seluar pulak.

 



So part mana yang paling exciting? Yang first? Gantung seluar elok-elok, ambik gambar then share kat fb! Macam ni..

Cawat seluar saya buat labuh. Sebab si pemakainya suka duduk kangkang. This is what I meant tadi - pelikat refashioned hehe.

Selamat mencuba!

of louvered doors and shoes

Assalamualaikum

Semalam tiba-tiba ada angin mengemas datang. Angin sepoi-sepoi bahasa only, so the hasil also sepoi-sepoi bahasa.

I so happen to have a shoe closet not because I have big house but because we have structural 'tiang's that were too costly to remove (during renovation way back in 2012) and to reinforce back the structure called for more and more costs. So we converted the otherwise void areas into closets. One is for shoes and the other for my small-scale gardening tools and segala peralatan dan bahan kimia untuk mencuci rumah.

And I am glad we have louvered doors for those two! Here's what I did to the shoe-closet door.. tadaaaaa!!!

 

Kasut digantung ikut ketinggian ownernya. Kakak atas sekali (she stands as tall as me now!). Then Iman. And of course for now, Adam bawah sekali.

For kaki IG, silalah tengok hashtag berkaitan home organisation and the likes. Macam-macam ideas you can get. Gantung kasut kat pintu ni pon my kids yang jumpa while they were browsing youtube. Of course they way that I do is wayyyy more a lot lot more sempoi. No nailing what so ever. I bought the hangers for less than RM5.00 each at AEON Big and a pack of S hooks for RM2.00 at Mr DIY.

You like it? I do.

I can get more shoes now. Definitely!

woman ver4.1

My blogging mojo has its own on off switch which I myself can't control. Sometimes it overflowed in my mind and yet I just stared blankly at my draft and then I clicked the delete button.

Between now and then, we celebrated Adam's birthday, saw Athirah received present from school for her academic achievement, kids got their yellow belt, went balik kampong for school holidays and later checked in Marriot for weekend getaway. Lost 2 kittens, got 2 more. Went 'scrubbing' Jazz at toll Pantai Baharu leaving longggggg scratches and three small holes.

We finally went to health screening at Pantai Hospital after postponing for a year! Other than borderline uric acid, borderline bad cholesterol level, a tad bit too high blood pressure, and misbehaving uterus lining - I am okay. Not forgetting cervical slip disc at C4-C5, C5-C6. Alhamdulillah I can still go about doing my daily things. My blood pressure is currently being monitored. And I have an appointment scheduled with O&G next week. I am a woman ver 4.1 that needs lifestyle modifications (and upgrades!) :-)

Tebby, he needs to shed some kilos. Other than that, he's okay.

Owh. Bedtime already. Till then, good night.

 

 

 

 

of taekwondo & first grading

Kids joined Taekwondo early this year. Adam was the first to start pestering us since end of last year. Naturally, he was the first among the three to enrol. Iman and Kakak jumped into the bandwagon a week after.

Class is every Saturday morning for approximately 1hr 45 minutes. You know what we husband and wife can do in that period of time?? We got time for ourselves for detim-detim. That is either doing wet-marketing at Pasar Kajang, or groceries shopping at Aeon Big. Yeah, we're romantic like that....

Anyway.

Uniform comes RM110 each and month fee is RM40 each. Seems agreeable to us. What most important is that, kids enjoy themselves and we got some time for ourselves (albeit just managing some domestic affairs)

First grading was last Saturday. I had intended to just leave them and then pick them up after the session. Primarily because we didn't want them to feel uneasy with us looking. Secondarily because we planned to do wantan noodle for dinner and our freezer is literally in absence of vital ingredients.

 

But we were glued there, all excited to see what it was all about.

 

We do not know if they passed or not, yet. We shall see this coming Saturday insyaAllah.


 

rezeki & ungratefulness

Rezeki comes in many forms.

Husband said - dapat tidur lena malam-malam pun dah besar sangat rezekinya.

Last year, I had my phase of greed. I wanted bags. I already have bags - one in violet and few in black. I was certain I need one in brown. But things held me back. So I didn't.

Guess what. A long time friend suddenly asked for my address.
She said - Aku nak bagi kau something.

And wassaped few wristlets to choose from.

Mann, what have I done to deserve that?
Beautiful wristlet arrived few days later.

Months later.
She asked again if my previous address was still the same.
I told her don't do it again.
A tote arrived few days later nonetheless.
In brown!

I was thinking - what have I done to deserve those? Coz I wasn't really doing anything good, apart from my usual routine. Then it dawned to me - it was not what have I done, it was rather what I should do.

Three days ago, my rezeki came in form of free parking spot. You see, parking lots are precious where I work. Scarce. I hit the road 10 minutes later than planned. I was trying to save a little kitten (though it ended in a tragic way that left me in pools of tears). And guess what - when I arrived, some free spots were still available and the adik jaga directed me to the most convenient lot, very near to the entrance.

 

 



Thank you Allah. Alhamdulillah. Forgive me for I have sinned. Forgive me for I often forgot the good things bestowed upon me. Forgive me for not giving out as much I should. Forgive me for my ungratefulness.

Sometimes we are too focused on bigger things (or so, we thought) that we forget those little things that make up our life

 

 

my kinda toto organiser

This is how I keep my toto/narita.

Too sombong to keep the plastic cover. Bila nak simpan, I had to stack onto one another. Bila nak ambik, susah la pulak (it's FIFO for me - first in first out).

Tried to sew the cover once. It was a nightmare that I didn't bother for a re-try.

Found cheap alternative at AEON Big. Their shopping bag. Was it RM2.99 each? Or RM3.50? Can't remember exactly but I can confirm nothing more than RM4.00 each.

play decorating - dressing up walls

Non-sponsored. Ditulis dengan rela hati tanpa sebarang bayaran promosi :-)

 

Finally!

After being kept for months, they are up on the walls. We bought four pieces of kufi from Kufi on Kanvas. After two wood carvings dressing up the wall, I had intended to leave the rest of the wall bare and boring. But man of the house thought otherwise. After putting aside differences, we decided on quranic verses or something along that line, so kufi it was then.

 

We picked 3-Qul for ruang tamu. The background is actually blue-grey while the wordings in red and black. It's on stretched canvas with black frame.

 

 Allah & Muhammad at stair-landing wall. As you can see, we have similar colour theme with the 3-Qul. These two came without frame.

The 'bravest' color we have at home. Red. I was a tad bit worried at first coz I don't normally allow colour that 'screams'. Once up on the wall, I think it's nice. Thank you husband for insisting :-) This one is ayat Qursi.

There's a lot more to see and choose actually. I'd say endless possibilities. You can pick any ayat or surah. Pick any color. Pick the size. Pick the size. Pick the finishing. You can also have your name kufi-style.

After pre-ordering, they emailed us images so we can see how they will turn out. No obligations. Once agreed, contact them to discuss on deposits, payment, delivery date and whatnots. In  a week or two, voila, kufi at your doorstep. My only complaint is - no installation service provided. Which explains why these pieces were kept for months! Coz, drilling walls isn't really our forte. Or rather really isn't our forte! Last weekend ada electrician came to change bulbs. Ada 25 bijik nak tukar and jenis downlight yang ada cover cermin tu. Man of the house is still traumatic after that jatuh tangga incident back in 2012. Kalau sikit-sikit he does la. Banyak-banyak ni we always panggil orang to do it. And the bonus... boleh mintak drill dinding sekali. Yayy... kufi finally up the wall.

 

Here's how to contact Kufi on Kanvas, and their showrooms locations. To be safe, call dulu kot-kot ada changes okay. I take this from their fb page.

 

 

weekend sewing project - pj bottom

I bought 4 pieces of 2-meters fabric back in 2012 for Kakak's PJ bottom. The yellow kitty pj bottom was sewn right the next day while the other 3 had to wait yearsss before they finally see the sun again, and in wearable form :-) 

 photo taken in 2012.

yang putih stripes and plain grey masih bertapa dalam laci

 

 gunting Singer tu sedappp sangat buat menggunting kain. sila beli.

I made another 3 last weekend, of course in bigger size coz the little girl is now 14, standing almost as tall as me. But they weren't as loose as I want them be. I used the old pattern I made last year without adjusting a bit.

Here's grey-autumn, blue-leopard and pinky-stripes.

 

 

Thank you to cikgu-cikgu who taught me the basics of sewing during my secondary school, kelas SRT. Though later in life, I learnt how to 'menderhaka' ilmu SRT, I really appreciate jasa baik cikgu-cikgu. Coz to get things started, we all have to have the right basics.

And to my mother, Mok, who indirectly started the fire burning - my interest in needle and thread. I often witnesses she sewed clothes during her younger days. She wouldn't let me come near the scissors tho.

 

of starting (primary) school

All three are officially school-goers now.

The youngest joined Year 1 already. Iman in Year 5 and Kakak is already in Form 2. When did these three beings grow up?? Time certainly flies too fast.

We’d hoped (and expected) Adam to have smooth transition to these primary school ideas. He did.

 Day 1 and he asked me drop him off near school gate. Adam tau la nak pegi mana, he said.

 2nd day and he didn’t want to bring bekal anymore for recess. Adam nak beli kat kantin, he said.

 3rd day and he put a stop of my reminders of this and that. Adam tau la nak buat apa, he said.

Amboi.

Now we’re almost coming to the first term break. Countless loss of stationeries, pencil especially. 2 pairs of shoes weekly (he always come back with dirty shoes, even on Mondays). Once he has this sambal stain of his white shirt collar! *cries*. And he slept once in class! Last week he lost his just-purchased special-edition pencils set. And his wallet. And 2 water bottles.

Nevertheless. He loves school. He does his homework, paying close attention to details. Like coloring every single strand of grass. Or rubbing off pencil marks entirely when he does corrections. He makes friends easily. Alhamdulillah, I think he’s coping.

 

 

choc banana muffin with oreo crumb

 

Muffin is something you can still do after a long day at work. Secara relatifnya, lebih mudah berbanding kek. Tak perlu keluarkan mixer. You'll need two bowls, satu untuk bahan kering, satu lagi untuk bahan basah. Kalau tiba-tiba balik kerja, anak-anak buat surprise, esok ada jamuan kelas, pot-luck fashion. Fret not, muffin it is then. Among others la .. coz nugget and sausage are among the hit too :-)

Yang ni hasil adaptasi resepi Nigella Lawson.

Bahan-bahan
- 3 biji pisang masak +
- 1/2 cawan minyak sayur +
- 2 biji telur (dipukul sedikit) +
- 1/2 cawan gula perang
- 1 1/2 cawan tepung naik sendiri
- 3 sudu besar serbuk koko
- 3 sudu besar oreo crumb

- Panaskan oven 160d, api atas bawah, fan on.

- Di dalam satu mangkuk, campurkan semula bahan bertanda + (bahan basah)
Tips - pecahkan telur dahulu dan dipukul sedikit, kemudian masukkan bahan lain supaya tak perlu guna mangkuk lain untuk telur)
- Di dalam mangkuk lain, gaul rata bahan selebihnya (bahan kering)
- Masukkan bahan basah ke dalam mangkuk bahan kering.
- Gaul rata.
Tips - until just mixed, don't over do it
- Cedokkan ke dalam muffin pan atau bekas cupcakes.
- Bakar selama 15-20 minit.

Note:
Resepi asal guna tepung multipurpose dan baking soda, my shortcut guna tepung naik sendiri.
Resepi asal tiada orea crumb.

back to work, back to school

Is there still anyone out there reading this space?

Lots happened between now and the last time I wrote, or my last entry in 2014. Major highlights - went to school re-union (woohoo!) traded my ViVa for a better car, Iman turned 10 in November 2014 and, my kampong back in Temerloh badly hit by flood and, Adam started his Tahun 1 andddd, last but not least, I am back working.

The second week that I came back working, we had a kick-off of 2015, with the theme Back to School. Dinner followed after a long day of business presentations, with the same theme. I am not into these kind of thematic thingy but, as someone who reports to someone else that reports to someone of higher position (that's how lowly I am in such a big company), just went with the flow la kan. Got back home at almost 11p.m. and the next day, flat! I am really that old! 

 

Pullman Bangsar. Ramai orang cilok pensel gemok tu coz too cute. Lunch sedap. But food dinner I think so-so.

 

SMK Sri GBC it was! (the actual name of division is - Group Brand and Communication, shortly known as GBC) Complete with tshirt koko, school badge and nametag. We also had a school song!

Further to this, there will be a teambuilding sometime end March nanti. Planned location is Tanah Aina Farrah Soraya. Went there last Tuesday. To sum the place up - tranquillity! Major drawback - almost none Celcom signal, let alone internet connection!



 

Happy 2015

Assalamualaikum.

12th day of 365 in 2015.
Happy New Year.

Kids are all school-goers. 14, 11, 7.
I am old. I'll be 41 in few months time.

I'll be back working in two weeks time.
Not really looking forward to.
But life goes on.

Again, Happy 2015 to us all