Wedding Anniversary

Last Friday, 25th March 2005 marked our 4th Wedding Anniversary. It was a quiet celebration for just the three of us. We spent the day at Bullring, Birmingham weaving in and out of shops and boutiques with me drooling all over myself at Christian Dior, Jimmy Choo, a Dolce & Gabbana watch, Morphy Richards espresso maker, Sony Ericsson's S700i, a trip to Andalucia and Jordan (I really, really want to see the city of Petra and dip myself in the Dead Sea) and other countless things that will remain in my birthday and anniversary wish list for the next... say lifetime???

B gave me a KitchenAid Artisan Mixer in red (they have all kinds of rainbow colors) while I gave him an authentic Subaru World Rally Team shirt (B is absofcukinglutely nuts about motorsports). Eventhough I've ordered the shirt online for ages, it only came in today through the Royal Mail Special Delivery at 7.45 am while we were sleeping. It gave me a deep satisfaction upon seeing B's face when he opened the unassumed box. Hehehhehe... I hope you love it Aling and you're not disappointed eventhough the shirt came 5 days late.

Here are some pixs. Enjoy....

In front of the Bullring Center in Birmingham. What kicks me with building is it's unique glowing sphere discs surrounding the building where Selfridges is.

Zareef is trying to take a pix with my phone while I take a pix of him and my brand spanking new KitchenAid Artisan Mixer in racy red.

My beautiful red KitchenAid Artisan Mixer. I love it!! Now I can start baking up a storm with it...

The Subaru World Rally Team shirt. B will look dashing in this.

The back of the Subaru World Rally Team shirt. Beautifully done!

If you're looking for authenticity, this is it.

Of Idiocy, Carelessness and Forgetfulness

I am mad at myself for being such a careless, forgetful idiot! I might as well kick myself in the shin and bang my head against the wall for it.

I left the car keys hanging at the front passenger's door and someone nicked it!!!!

ARGGHHHHH!!!

I'm such an idiot!!!!

It happened yesterday when I took Zareef to the park. In my attempts to catch hold of Zareef before he crosses the street towards the park in one hand (he was so excited and couldn't contain himself and was jumping up and down) while holding his bottle of water in the other and trying to lock the car all at the same time; my hands were full and my mind was focused elsewhere, I entirely forgot about the car keys at the door.

I went straight to the park and let Zareef have the time of his life climbing, sliding and running all over the playground.

When we walked back towards the car, a friend called out (I parked in front of his house) saying that a mat salleh came over his house and asked the whereabouts of the owner of the car (which happens to be me) moments ago. My friend informed him that the car belonged to a friend and asked why? The mat salleh just said "I want to see the owner" and went off.

Now, how did I come to the conclusion that my car keys were nicked? Because...

1) It wasn't in any of my pockets be it the jacket or my pants but my mobile and house key were.
2) I scoured the entire park and playground area THRICE!, retraced my steps THRICE! combing every square inch of grass that I stepped and found nothing.
3) I have a history of leaving the car keys at the door.
4) The mat salleh said that he wanted to see the owner of the car.

The fourth reason made me start to think...

1) Why would he want to see the owner?
2) If he wanted to see me, why didn't he wait near the car?
3) If he wanted to see me but couldn't wait for me, why didn't he leave a number with my friend so that I could contact him? (It so happens that the mat salleh lives nearby because my friend recognizes him but doesn't know which house is it)
4) If my friend said that the owner of the car is his friend, why didn't the mat salleh state his reasons of wanting to see me?
5) Why didn't the mat salleh just leave the car keys hanging at the door and save me all the trouble and worries?

With all that swishing in my mind back and forth, B and I made the conclusion that the mat salleh took our car keys from the door when he was passing by for some obvious reason unknown to us. Maybe he was just being a good samaritan by taking the keys to prevent my car from being stolen but if he did that, why oh why didn't he leave a contact number or let my friend know where he's living so that I could get hold of him??

ARGGGHHHHH!!!! I'm so mad at myself for being so careless and forgetful!!!!

ARGGGHHHHH!!!! I'm even madder at that mat salleh for taking my car keys but not leaving any information behind.

Thank God that we have a spare key at home. So B had to walk home from the university, wait for my friend to come and pick him up, take him back to our friend's house to get Zareef and I and drive us home in our car. Isn't that tiresome?! And I thank God that B wasn't mad at me. In fact, he was all calm, cool and collected unlike me who was reduced to a shaken, nerve-wrecked woman. Thank you so much Aling for not being mad at me and thank you also for understanding that your wife is a forgetful, careless old git. All he said was "Dah benda nak jadi, nak buat camna. Just accept and deal with it". Very wisely spoken and I couldn't agree more.

Now, all that we have to do is to make another spare key which will be a problem because the key cannot be duplicated easily at any keymaker. According to my friend who also had to duplicate his key because he broke it, we have to go to the respective dealership, bring along certain documents to verify ownership, have our key sent to Germany and the Germans will send us the duplicate. Oh dear!!! Satu hal la pulak. But I told B, regardless how hassling it may be, we have to have a duplicate key because of old forgetful me.

So now if you'll excuse me, I'll continue to kick myself in the butt pulak and knock my head silly.

Now... what shall I do??....

The friend who was supposed to be kind enough to babysit Zareef for our Anniversary date suddenly said that she can't. Oh well, yes I'm a bit disappointed but I'll make some changes. Looks like my plans to watch Hitch in the cinema will not materialize after all plus a romantic twosome dinner will now be a cozy threesome.

*****

I've finally completed collecting tokens for 2-for-1 entry tickets to Alton Towers. It took me almost a week to complete all five tokens. It was almost declared incomplete because idiot me forgot to buy the newspaper on Thursday but luckily my super buys the newspaper religiously everyday. So, I get to nick the last token from her, with her permission of course.

Not only are the tokens valid for Alton Towers, they can also get me into Chessington Park and Thorpe Park as well. And me being the adrenaline junky, plans to go to all three that is if time and money permit.

*****

Out of boredom and necessity, Zareef and I went to town to buy some crucial stuffs, some not so important stuffs and some because it was on sale.

The best part was, Osh Kosh is having a half-price sale at Boots on some of their selected lines only. I got to snatch some good bargains on tops for Zareef. The worst part was most of Zareef's size are gone leaving only some which are either too small or too big. So, what did I do? I bought t-shirt and shirts 2 and 3 years ahead seeing that I won't be here by that time and not forgetting that OKBG in Malaysia is ridiculously and exorbitantly priced.

I-ntra U-terine D-evice

I've been contemplating on fitting in an IUD as a contraceptive for quite a while now but I've been procrastinating on it. All this while I've been sticking to rubber but now it's getting to be quite tiresome; you know the foreplay part, then getting the packet, tearing it, slipping it on and then only you get to the juicy stuffs. With the IUD fitted it, it's a direct wham-bam-thank you mam.

So yesterday, after months of dilly-dally, B drove me to the Family Planning Clinic in Coalville so that I could be fitted with one. It was a walk-in service, so when I arrived, there were quite a number of people waiting to be seen.

I reported myself to the receptionist and was given a form to be filled in. I did as was told and then seated myself at the waiting area. I wasn't feeling scared or anxious. In fact, I didn't felt anything. All that while, Zareef was busy running around having the time of his life with B close on his tail.

A male doctor called out my name. I was like 'Oh man!! Dapat laki pulak'. Oh what the heck... they are supposed to be the best in their field. It's just that I'd be more comfortable with a female doctor. So in I went.

He asked a few background questions and what is it that I want. After telling him that I wanted to be fitted with an IUD, he went on explaining what IUD is, the effects and the procedures that he'll be performing. But what he didn't tell me was the pain that I had to go through to have it fitted inside me.

And boy did it hurt. A LOT!! I cried out loud when the doc inserted an instrument to measure the depth of my womb. It went in all the way from the vagina right into the womb. The pain that I felt was one like the birth contractions. Then the second pain came when he inserted the IUD itself. He said 'I'm sorry for having to hurt you but I have to. It'll only be for a few seconds. Hold on kay!'. You betcha!! I was holding on to dear life! And then it was done. He even said 'Well done! You were very brave. You did great!' Cehhhh... macam la aku ni budak umor 3 tahun.

The procedure was done in lest than 2 minutes but I was in great pain especially in the lower abdomen area where the womb is. Doc was reassuring me that the pain 'will not last long'. 'Just for a few hours' he said. 'A couple of paracetamols will make it go away'. A few hours my ass!!

4 paracetamols and the whole night and day later, I'm still in pain except now it's just a dull throbbing compared to the birth contractions that I felt last night. I was moaning and groaning and writhing on the bed unable to do anything except curl myself up in a tight ball willing the pain to go away. I didn't remember when or how I slept except to be awoken by the sound of my alarm clock. Time to go to work but I couldn't because I was still in pain so I called and left a message saying that I'm taking emergency leave instead of calling in sick because I've run out of sick leaves.

When I was in great pain last night, I told B that if I knew that the pain would be this great, I wouldn't have opted for IUD. I'd have just stuck to the old rubber but nak cepat punya pasal... Sekarang sendiri mahu tanggung. All B could do was just rubbed my back and gave me words of comfort.

Before deciding with IUD, I did do some research on it. I even asked around some friends who had it done. They said it was a simple procedure and didn't hurt one bit except when the doc inserted the coil into the womb. Plus it will last for 5 years and if I ever decide to get pregnant within the 5 years, then it's easily taken out by pulling at a string located at the end of the IUD. I didn't want to take any pills (I did for a year but I didn't like it because the hormones in pill tend to clash with my hormones leaving me a mess for the first few months) nor did I want any injections or implants (they still deal with hormones administrated into the body). So after hearing so many good words about the IUD, I decided to go for one.

Well, now that I've done it, I think it'll be a very long, long time before I go for it again. If I ever decide to have it fitted in again, I'll ask for a local anaesthetic or douse myself with enough painkillers to numb my senses beforehand.

*****

On a brighter note, Boots is having an offer on Pampers nappies. Instead of the usual 2 for £16 on all economy packs, they're offering 2 for £13.50 and you can mix it. So what did I do?? I bought 4 packs. They ran out of the Baby Dry, so I bought 3 packs of Active Fit and 1 Easy Up. Since I spent more than £25 on baby stuffs, I got a 500 points bonus on my Boots card. Hehehhehe... more for me to redeem it on Osh Kosh. I have 1000 points now and I'm eyeing the OKBG jeans and t-shirt to go with it.

So mummies in UK... go to your nearest Boots and borong segala Pampers yg ada kat situ. HEhehehe... macam buat iklan free pulak utk Boots. Takpe... nak dapat points punye pasal...

*****

Starting from next week, I'll be on a very long holiday. It'll be Easter then plus I took extra leave up till 1 April just to finish off my leave balance before the new financial year starts. Hmmm... it'll be 10 long fulfilling days of leave. What shall I do?? Let me list it down.

1. Start packing up our stuffs to bring home. But if I pack them now into boxes, where shall I put them? Rumah dah la sekangkang kera. If I put them in the hall, then there'll be no space left for us to sit and breathe.

2. A week from today will be our 4th wedding anniversary (Lagi sekali ye. Hari tu was according to Hijrah years. This time ikut Gregorian calendar pulak). I've already found a friend who is willing to babysit Zareef. So I'm going to leave him with her and her kids and that'll leave us free for a movice date. Yeay!!! It's been approximately 3 years since I last stepped foot into the cinema. It doesn't matter what movie we watch as long as we have an alone time just the two of us to rekindle our love and say and do mushy stuffs without any interruptions. Then it's off for a dinner at La Tasca. Yeap... I've been itching to try that restaurant eversince Rini and Jue has been gushing on and on about their delicious food.

3. On Saturday, I'm going to Milton Keynes with a friend to a Noritake factory shop. Yeah baby!! Tanduk sudah tumbuh... I can see B rolling his eyes now. Don't worry Aling... I'll only buy the cheap ones... if there's any la. Then we'll go jalan2 around the town center. Lepas tu balik.

4. Hmmm... I'm wondering if I can convince B to go to Manchester. First, I've been dying to go to Jati since last year. Secondly, dah lama tak jalan2 kat Trafford Centre. Thirdly, teringin pulak nak visit Rini sefamily. Amacam Rini?? Boleh datang rumah tak???

Well... that's it. Now I'm going to see what is Zareef up to in the garden. Senyap je... mesti ada la tu dia tengah berproject. Have a good weekend people!

When I was just a little boy...

I was going through some old picture files today, when I stumbled upon Zareef's baby pictures. Comparing Zareef then all wrinkly and tiny and now when he can leap and bound made me realized how fast he has grown. It seems like it was just yesterday that I held Zareef close to my heart never wanting to let him go after an ardous 30-hours labor. I shall not dwell on my miserable giving birth experience as not to scare off the would be mothers out there. Maybe when it's Zareef's 3rd birthday, then I shall dive into it. For now, I'm going to reminisce the times when my boy was just 2.89 kg, docile and does whatever I want him to instead of now when he has become a smart ass and sometimes answers me back by saying the darndest things.

A close-up of Zareef when he was 2 months old.

I'm A-Okay

I know, I know... I've not been updating for quite some time. Firstly, I was not in the right state of mind to do so (I was pissed at someone). Secondly, after the pissed period was over, kemalasan maha dewa telah melanda so I just did blog hopping for a while instead of furnishing my abode with posts worth writing.

To my friends who have enquired, I'm okay now. Thank you so much for your concern. It touches me right to the core to know that I have friends who really, really care and willing to help me even without ever know what's going on.

I'm too lazy to ponder or write anything that requires mind-boggling thoughts, so I'm just gonna update on what I've been up to for the past two weeks or so.

1) B has been terribly busy and will continue to be in that state until the day he submits his thesis. He plans to submit it sometime mid-April, hence now he's sticking his nose to the grind only coming back from the office around 8 pm or so for dinner, rest and sleep. Can't do his work at home because most of his stuffs are too big to lug home plus there's the Zareef factor. Being a daddy's boy, he'll be hanging on to B for dear life from the moment B stepped into the house till Zareef closes his eyes to sleep. That's how attached Zareef is to B.

2) For Mother's Day, B and Zareef wished me well and the best gift came when B said "Tak payah masak la hari nih. It's Mother's Day. We'll eat out". Wahhhh... music to my ears!! And to top it off, he even washed the dishes, hovered the whole house, cooked pizza for lunch and folded the laundry. My oh my!! Don't I have the best hubby or what?!! We had lamb briyani, chicken tikka masala and 2 mango lassies (Zareef telah menghabiskan satu setengah cawan besar!) at a cosy restaurand called Zaytoun in Leicester. Very yummylicious I must say. Ahhhh... it's great to be treated like a queen even if it's just for a day.

3) Of late, Zareef's nose has been bleeding especially when he's sleeping. He'll start to rub his nose, then coughed and cry for help. Luckily the bleed only lasted for a minute or two. Any remedies for this, anyone??

4) We went to a friend's daughter's 3rd birthday party yesterday. Pijat made grilled chicken Nando's style (she used the Nando's marinade) complete with side dishes. I lost count of the number of pisces I had. I just stuffed myself crazy. Why is it that food always tastes better at other people's houses? This happens all the time to Zareef. He'll eat and eat at our friend's houses but when I cooked the same dishes at home, he wouldn't even bat an eye at it. Huhh... sungguh frustrating especially after slaving myself cooking it for nearly two hours.

5) We went to an Italian Furniture shop on Saturday at Birmingham. Mampu tengok je la. Harga beribu-riban sehhh.... I wanted to see what's the fuss all about because it's been causing a mad wave here in Loughborough. Some of the houses I visited is sure to be furnished with these avantgarde furniture. They didn't buy it new, instead they bid it on eBay. Sanggup tu sewa van and pegi beratus batu to collect it. Some who has extra dough to spare bought them brand spanking new from the shop which costs a bomb! Hmmm... and us??
Nahhhh... too fancy and elaborate for our taste. Maybe when we're older and the kids have grown up and we have extra cash to boot, then we'll consider it but not now. Rumah pun tak beli lagi. Karang dah beli banyak2, balik nanti nak letak mana?

6) Zareef is all psyched up to go to Disneyland Paris. He'll say "Besok Mummy bawak Zareef go to Disneyland kay?!" or "Mummy nak go Disneyland ke?" or even "Jom jalan2 Disneyland, Mummy". We kept saying not yet or in 3 month's time or nanti kita pegi masa Happy Birthday Mummy, alright?! But Zareef being just a kid and all with no sense of time, he'll keep on asking and I'm just happy to accommodate him.

All in all, I'm back to my jolly old self. No more sulking. No more merajuk sessions. So, here's to more happy and brighter posts...

I HATE YOU!!!

Enough said.