RUMAH UNTUK DI JUAL

Chot said i should advertise it on my blog, kalau2 ada yang stumbled on it and is interested. but i don't think a lot of people read my blog. but why not, it doesn't hurt.

anyone interested in buying a double story bungalow in Nilai please let me know. or if u know of someone who might be interested, let me know osso...

it's at Nilai Impian, 4 bedrooms 3 bathrooms... i have the square footage somewhere... is 100% completed.

oh i wish...

oh i wish i was an oscar meyer weener,
that's what i really want to be...

(i think that's how the jinggle went. from it's tv commercial...)

humans being the discontent lot that they are will wish for something more or something else than their current situation. i wish i _____... i wish i _____... i wish i _____...

examples of wishing for more would be like rich people wants to be richer, beautiful people wants to be beautiful-er... wish for more wealth (don't we all kan??) wish for more power... more, more, more...

examples of wishing for something else in life would be like living in a small town with not a lot of action to a bigger, shinier town... from let say Waterloo, Iowa to San Francisco, California : )... Chot and I fell in love with SF the first time we set foot there. It is laid back, not hectic like LA and the bay, so beautiful... we went there a second time (although chot can't ronda2 coz he had a seminar to attend) and explored it more.

but really, do we know the place enough to say we LOVE it?? but i guess SF is charming, i mean with the threat of earthquakes, people stayed put. eemmm... but then again, waterloo has the threat of tornados and still people stayed put, and the place is NOT at all charming. doesn't that make waterloo's pull to it's people stronger then??... what's with these small town huh??...

but really, when it comes down to it, waterloo isn't that bad, i mean it could be worse... it could have been Fargo, North Dakota... hahaha. the glass is half full, it's half full...

but being far2 away from family and only having the company of friends, them being somewhat a makeshift family unit, the wish for me is to move to Peoria... chot's 2nd hometown coz that's where he went to college and where most of our malaysian friends resides. it would be nice to have people to meet on the weekends without having to drive 3 to 4 hours...

so is it obtainable??... i don't know, i don't think so... chot does hardware engineering and caterpillar doesn't have hardware position or not a lot opening for it. then again, that's make it a wish right??... when it's not easy to get and u actually have to wish for it.

so is wishing for something means ur not thankful of what u already have??... it depends on what and why you're wishing for i guess. like wishing for more health rather than more wealth is always better... and even then, wishing for more wealth makes sense if ur wishing for it in order to help people... n.o.t to help your handbag collection, or your shoe collection...

all boils down to being HAPPY. we wish for whatever we wish for in order to be happy, to be happier, and while we're at it, to be the happiest poeple there is. but do we really know what brings us happiness?? really??... something that makes us happy one day, doesn't cut it for us the next.

what about the ultimate wish?? where all other wishes fail in comparison to it... do we have the same one i wonder??...

ooohhh... one of those days my mind goes philosophical on me.

Fever

That's what i had starting tuesday. my whole body ached and i was out of commission until today (ye la kan, dah ber blog : D... ).

i'm ok la today... despite lack of sleep (dok main hexic and read other people's blogs, i slept at around 5 am and woke up at around 8 to send chot to work). chot usually drives himself to work but today i need to use the car, needed to go to the hospital and pay the bill. then went to target to do the groceries and after that ronda2.

went to J. T Maxx and Old Navy, there were good deals but i'm proud to say i'm able to restrain myself from buying j.u.n.k... : )...

what to write about today??... i dunno... the weather??... the kitchen??... i know i should keep it short coz i'm a bit behind on the laundry (sakit kan??). i'm particular about laundry... and i'd rather do the washing and folding of clothes than the washing of dishes.

just like my mom, she loves doing laundry coz she can't stand dirty clothes accumulating in the laundry basket. but we differ in the washing dishes department coz she loves to do that and i don't.

due to the huge dislike and laziness of washing dishes, there were times in primary school when i'd rather go hungry then going in the kitchen to fry an egg or make maggi noodles. knowing i'd be dirtying stuff up and needed to wash them later, i exercise the option to be a lazy ass. yup, quite pathetic... or is it determination??...

ok then, need to do housework... i am a housewife : D... i'll end with the posting of this picture.

kawan2 sekalian (eerrr... that's lin & marinadelrey...) guess where the picture was taken??... or what of??...

I'm back

Hello u guys : ) ...

Back in town and a bit under the weather... selesema. been having a lot of hidung tersumbat and sinus allergy, maybe i'm developing allergy reaction to Waterloo.

anywhoo... had fun in peoria, met friends and ate a lot of food. I intended to fast today but after waking up and seeing Ika's birthday cake on the dining table, i didn't hasitated and took a big bite. made nescafe and had more cake...

Ika is Audra and Zarul's first baby, she turned 1 year old March 22nd. Saturday March 25th was her birthday party at "Chuckee Cheezze" (i know i spelled it wrong, but i don't care...). Here's a picture of the birthday girl that i just had to post...

i'm attaching the photo album of Ika's Birthday Party.

Whitewater Rafting

Marinadelrey ask if we went whitewater rafting in Cedar Rapids... on account of having the word "rapids" in its name.

well, don't think there is any whitewater action in Cedar Rapids... there might be a good spot/ spots in Iowa but haven't surveyed or checked it out.

but i did go whitewater rafting 2 times since i've lived here. the first was in wisconsin (see pictures) about 4 years ago. and the second time was in Tenn. near (or was it in) Smoky Mountain National Park.

it was fun although i was kindda scared if the raft flipped or i'd be thrown overboard... : ) can't swim okeyy... was paddling for dear life...

pic no. 2... scary huh??... that's a no. 4 rapids... they grade rapids form 1 to 4 (or is it 5??) with 1 being the weakest. When we went down the river that particular day, it happened to just rain or is raining further up stream, so it was challenging.

Eeee... tak malu...

Heh heh... have nothing better to do, so i thought i'd go and embarrass myself : )... found a few wedding pics taken... let seeee... 22 Dec 2001??... iye... betullll!!!... 2 markah...

i know lin hasn't see how we looked like on our wedding day...

cheeky adam

I hope anis don't mind but i had to put this on my blog... those cheeks of adam beckons to be pinched... "cubit sikeeet"...

kiss kiss

Found this cute picture... i dunno what fishes these are but i know there is a kind of gourami that kiss kiss... wet kisses : ) yeah duh??... it has to be wet, they're in water...

i forgot to ask chot, he'd probably know... so these might be kissing gouramis, might not... and i'll ask him what gourami is in malay...

what's the story morning glory??

last saturday we went down to Cedar Rapids for donuts. it might seem a waste of time to drive 45 minutes for donuts but i assure u, these are very good donuts... the kind that melts in your mouth.

besides, we hadn't been to Cedar Rapids for the longest time, did some window shopping and asian grocery shopping... and visited kak ta, her egyptian husband and her granddaughter amira. kak ta is malaysian and is our sole malaysian aquiantance when chot started work in Iowa. she's been here since...uh i dunno... the 70's...

then sunday... well, i did nothing much and chot had a football (i mean soccer...) game. came home after and merayu for help. he overdid it at the soccer field and had a few muscle crams there and now needed help to take off his (stinking) soccer attire... and help to get up the stairs... tu la, selalu tak ingat bila main, lepas main baru la berdekeh2...

so nothing much done to the kitchen... although before he went for soccer, he did do the drain pipes for the kitchen sink. and i am happy to report that I HAVE A WORKING KITCHEN SINK. i still can't believe it, even today while washing dishes... it's been so long b/c we took the old sink out end of december, i guess it needs getting use to : )... errr jakun pun ada a bit : D... I have pics but will post it up later...

yesterday, had my last 3-month lupron shot. lupron is a drug use for the treatment of endometriosis... treatment, not cure. there's no cure for endo. what is endo??... i'd link a website if anyone is interested but i don't know how to do that link thing http://www.endofacts.com/understanding/... ok maybe i do... is it working??... anyways, this website also has info on lupron.

so i ask the nurse...

"when can i try to conceive?"... and she says...

"it'll be maximum 3 months after the drug wears off before you'll get you're first period"...

alamak 3 more months??... i got the idea from my doctor that as soon as the drug wears off i'll get my period and when i detact that i'm ovulating, we can have a go on having a baby... right... more waiting. but i guess it makes sense, it takes 3 months for any drug to get out of your system and vice versa.

so went and did some web searching... didn't really help much coz all that did was made me confuse and worried... they tell some scary stories. but will call the doctor and ask her personally on what we should do next.

i hope the endo doesn't come back EVER... that is if i'm ultra lucky... ok, i hope the endo doesn't come back so soon, so i won't have any of those teribble pain... and i don't have to go on any more treatments... and i can just be normal...

i hope we'll have a fighting chance to conceive and have a baby of our own. i hope we'll be able to have a baby... and there are no other new problems... amin amin, ya rabbal alamin...

Kitchen progress 2

How the kitchen looks before the new countertop was installed. we use pieces of the old countertop for temporary work surface. : ) see the steamer??... made lepat pisang...

the countertop people installing the countertop. the guy is cutting the hole for the sink.

The sink cutout...

installing the sink... see how hardworking and devoted chot is??... didn't even change out of his work clothes. came home and went straight to doing work in the kitchen...

that's what he was doing. making a bigger hole so the sink can go in proper...

all that dust!!! and i just cleaned the kitchen after the countertop people.

Installing the sink...

installing the faucet...

things we need to do in installing the garbage disposer. that stuff around the round metal thingy (i don't know the proper name for it) is plumber's putty. it's like play doh... used to get a secure seal. we don't want a puddle of water under the sink now do we?? : )...

the sink faucet.

Heartaches... heartbreaks...

Oh my, these past few days were not pleasant.

First of all, i finally called kampung to inquire about my sister's SPM results. Chot and I did prepare ourselves for a not so good result but we didn't expect it to be that bad. Got a hold of my mom on her cellphone and the result is... 1 A (don't know what kind) and this is the shocker 2 Fs... she failed in add. maths and chemistry. My mom can't remember the rest, just the highest and the lowest...

then she went on, reporting on other cousins and relatives' results. the best is my cousin Harris with 10 A1... gileeee!!!... second best is my cousin Omar with like 9 A1s or something.

so, what's the next step? Fatin wants to go into the Army... my parents won't let her fearing the worst. Knowing how fatin is, her hangat2 tahi ayam, they're afraid she'll get tired of it and run away. we have a relative who abandoned his army duty or traning or something, and they didn't give up looking for him...

"sampai ke lubang cacing diaorg cari"... was my mom's exact words.

or become an air-stewardess... uh, no way jose, we don't trust her to take care of herself on a job like that... in my head i kept on seeing that air-steward and air-stewardess DVD... what was it?? something2 melampau... i get so worried...

my mom is asking around on how to enroll in a nursing school, we hope fatin will warm up to the idea.

++++

secondly, the countertop. i'm only like 96% satisfied...

we asked for both ends to be flush with the cabinets but one was not. which is not a big deal really, it looks fine... just that they didn't do as we specified.

and it was put it a bit crooked at where the stove meets the countertop. bigger gap in front compare to the back... chot said it's fine, it's minor.

takpe la... apa2 la... malas nak deal dah...

flush like this...























not like this, with a lip





the gap...



















the crack that's left behind

then, i made the HUGEST mistake of all, i drilled a screw and cracked the countertop surface. if i had a heart condition, i know i'd be in the hospital today on account of the heart attack i gave myself yesterday. it's the feeling of doom... the worst thing i can do to a newly installed, brand spanking new countertop is to put a crack in it. felt so bad, i cried...

i was attempting to put it the lazy susan and it required that i drill a hole on the buttom side of the countertop. i measured and measured and decided the screw that i was going to use will do the job... not too long not too short but boy!!! i was sure wrong...

(damn it...)... we're sure not gonna re-do the countertop and pay another 700 bucks, so i carefully hammer the crack back in... there's slight bump now, can't see the "accident" due to the cork pattern but if i run my hand over it, i can sure feel it...

the silicone, 2nd application...
hmmm... installed the sink after chot came home from work. my god!!!... that silicone thing is such a pain.

let me explain, to secure the sink to the countertop (aside from hardware that we don't know how to use yet), the manual says for us to use this silicone thing. did the prep work and all but the manual could have been a bit more clearer... a whole lot clearer actually... we made such a mess and that silicone paste smudged the countertop.

if chot wasn't there, i know i'd be crying... DOOM... it looked terrible, smudges everywhere... staining the countertop.

the only good thing i can report is that i put another layer of silicone this morning, trying to fix yesterday's ugliness. and it looked pretty decent, it can look better but DEFINATELY looks better than yesterday.

I know what u did last summer : D... 1

I started creating this post earlier in the week but only got around to finishing and publishing it today... I'd change the date to today's date but i don't know how.

well, here are pics of a few projects we did with the help of friends!!... TQ Jept and Anis...


Anis and Jept were the first to come and visit us in our new old house.

Jept helped built this compost bin...

and they also helped built a bed for the guest room.

testing it out to see if it'll hold weight.

Done!!...

Kitchen progress 1

How the kitchen was when we first moved in. Everything was dated, a blast from the past. No stove, no fridge...
Appliances came about a month after moving in. We cleaned and tidied up the kitchen and lived with this for about 6 or 7 months.
Starting taking cabinets out...

and the heavy cast iron sink...

until we had none...

sanding parts of the walls...

and patching up cracks...

and painting... 2 coats.

Assembling the cabinets...

and putting it in...

put all the cabinets in it's place, leveled and secured... put doors on some, and moved the stove to it's proper location.

Took out the old underlayment and vinyl floor...

and putting in new... vinyl tiles it's called... peel it and stick it...

new base moulding...

new lighting...

i wasn't dreaming

Very2 late last night or very2 early in the morning, i heard noises outside. sounded like someone throwing pebbles on the roof and awning. it startled me from slumber and i felt alarmed but i dozed right back to sleep.

woke up this morning with the oddest feeling, like when you had one of those dreams, you know you dreamt something but couldn't put your finger on... the "what the hell did i dreamt last night??" kindda deal...

until i looked outside and saw hail on the lawn, it all came back... the details of the dream but it wasn't a dream!... so i took a picture and posted on my blog...

cannot sleep

i want to sleep but i can't. was sleepy but i guess not sleepy enough. chot wants me to send him to work so i can use the car to pusing2 around town. i think he has to drive himself to work coz i know i won't be able to wake up. usually if we go back to sleep after subuh prayer on days that i sleep late, i'll wake up close to noon... haiya... what can i say... the life of a full time housewife with no kids.

chot wants me to go out so i will not be bosan out of my mind. the last time i went out was monday and today is already friday. he's worried kot nanti wife dia go gila. i can go out and do a bit of grocery shopping i guess. Lin's cottage pie thing looks yummy. maybe i can get stuff and try the dish. i know i have that piping thingy to pipe the mash potatoes so dish tu lawa.

++++

hmmm... what can i write about??... SPM result is coming out monday right??... a student of mine from gerik email to share her fears of the impending doom... hehheh... i hope not for her sake and my sister fatin.

tapi alamak, sad to say fatin has never been ambitious, her regrets always come too late. she always realize her lack of hard work and wasting time with kawan2 yang takde masa depan only after bad UPSR result, after bad PMR result. and now SPM... i want to be hopeful but i can almost see all the B's and C's...

i remember after the UPSR result came out... she did quite bad, was crying and being utterly sad and dissapointed at herself. promised my mom she'd do better next time. but her realization wore off, she'd forgotten her promise.

PMR came and went and it was the same ol' thing...

fatin has this hangat2 tahi ayam thing going on and an abandonment of sorts, a classic trait. she'd be all into working hard and buying books and stuff but then it wore off... orang pi tuition, dia nak pi tuition tapi kalau malas dia tak pergi... or kalau kawan2 ajak pi jalan, she'd rather do that than anything else. also very moody and very angin.

a classic example of fatin... recently came home and wanted so badly to enroll in driving lessons. was hell bent on it... apparently one of her friends was learning and she's going with that friend to the sekolah memandu with or without my mom's consent.

so my mom signed her up... paid 1000+ ringgit for fatin to learn the car and the motorcycle. my mom figured it'll occupy my sister's time. but alas, it didn't last, when i called home, my mom reported,

"fatin tak pi kelas, cina tu datang tapi dia tak bangun tido lagi"...

"cina tu lambat sikit jek... fatin tak mau pi belajar kereta"... and all sorts of things that boils my blood.

my mom said she's ashamed at the chinese guy for having to put up with my sister's nonsense.

alahai adik ku fatin!!!...

dissapointed at her sometimes, worried for her, ALWAYS. she is my sister after all and i love her. Ya Allah berikan dia petunjuk dan kesedaran, murahkan rezekinya, amin.

what weekend??...

oh it's only thursday... was so sure it's friday... sooooo I'll wish u guys a good weekend tomorrow.

the countertop is coming!... the countertop is coming!...

so excited!!!... one step closer to finishing our kitchen. the guy will come monday to install it. i don't know when exactly coz he said,

"monday, early in the morning"...

I ask what time and he said "oh before dinner"...

???? waaa??... early in the morning, before dinner?... I'm thinking he meant to say before lunch...

whatever la coz it's not like i'd be going anywhere. so will share pics of that when it's in.

hmmm... want to sew some curtains for chot's tool room... will doodle on the computer later2... yeah you guys... have a good weekend!!!!...

nasi tomato ber-ikan

that's what i made with my mahi-mahi. I used my homemade tomato sauce (blended and cooked tomatoes sauce from last summer's tomato patch along with garlic, onions and a bit of chili).

used that to make the nasi tomato and cut the mahi2 into chunks and dump it into the cooking rice... used a bit of butter and 1% milk... ok la sedap jugak : )...

plus papadum... and that how pemalas cooks : D...

hari nie masak apa ye?

masa lepas kawin, i use to like to cook and try stuff out in the kitchen. would try to make traditional malay kuih... kuih cara la, buah melaka la, karipap, lompang, lapis, serimuka, pau, lepat, koci, apam... chot loved it because he likes kuih...

now, he has to ask if there's any kuih for minum petang, i'd definately feel bad and felt even worse when i pass him the biskut marie. maybe when our kitchen is 100% siap, i can make him some kuih.

ooohhh... dah melencong. hari nie masak apa??... tak tau sebab makin lama kawin, makin malas masak... like i'm turning back into my old pre-wedding self. didn't really cook when i was in gerik and besut (my teaching job)... i'd just buy food or go to bai's warden house(??...) and without shame, stay for tea or dinner... i came by so much that one day i ask "takde teh2 ke minum2 petang?" and she answered... "pi ambik sendiri kat dapur"... adusss...

so, what am i trying to say here??... ammm, that i don't like to cook, and when i do, mesti ada mood or else it taste like (i wanna say...) crap... and today, bangun pagi jek dah takde mood and have no clue what to do with the mahi-mahi i defrosted since yesterday.

so... masak apa hari nie cik win??... well, i'm guessing something that taste like... crap...

cuba sekarang

lin pointed out that i should change some settings so people can leave comments without needing to register... cuba sekarang kawan2...

Autumn

I am not good with names. By the time i remember half of the names of my students in a particular school year, it'd be time for the cuti hujung tahun.

anywhoo, despite being bad at names, i still remember the cashier's name at Lowe's... AUTUMN. we went in to put in our order for a kitchen countertop and mannnn... made my blood boil.

she's what we would call in malaysia "bodoh sombong"... how ngok can you be??... chot and I were lost for words, macamana nak explain in simpler english. she just couldn't/ wouldn't get it... pas tu pi campak2 ajek receipt... so rude.

hidung tinggi sungguh.

moral of the story... jangan sombong... jangan bodoh... jangan jadik macam autumn...

Off the floor and on the wall

This shelving unit was sitting in the basement for months. we finally brought it into the computer room where it sat for a couple more weeks.

tapi akhirnya berjaya.

Snow

nice big fluffy flakes. it still amazes us when snow falls, so pretty.

the prettines however does not apply to snow that has fallen, especially... especially... on the roads. it becomes kotor brown slush... looks like blended iced mocha.

Ayam Paprik Lin

I visited my friend Lin's website and stumbled on her chicken paprik recipe. there was a picture of the dish and it made me salivate... sedap nampaknye. i was fasting at the time which might be the main reason i went out of my way to safe and later print it out.

made it yesterday for lunch. tak cukup bahan... i don't have daun limau purut and i don't know what is calamansis... the recipe calls for lime juice but i only have lemon juice... and i don't have shallots. although pass la coz it did look like the picture tapi alamak, rasa bla jek so so.

sosnye kureeng but i adjusted the taste and we had it again for today's lunch. the thing is, i hadn't had paprik... malaysian paprik for the longest time... can't count on chot coz i don't think he ever had malaysian paprik... even if he did, he won't remember.

we miss malaysian food... been away from kampung for quite some time. duduk tempat orang, you know you've been away long when you can't recall the taste of how stuff should be... sedih la sikit kat situ.

Is it the Standard?

This is my sister Yohaniz on her wedding day. i didn't make the trip balik kampung to attend the event due to unexpected expenses relating to unexpected development regarding my health. besides, i figured i would have 2 other weddings in the family of 2 younger sisters...

she send me pictures and this particular one made me wonder if it's the standard pose in malay weddings... i mean i went through it... gowd it was so embarassing. i don't know if it was the same for her, i didn't ask.

so i wonder if it's the standard...

The Italian Job

It wasn't the transporter, it was the the italian job... the movie i watched where people drove around in mini cooper...

anywhoo, chot is out pi swimming with his bosnian friend hassan. i can't swim... i can only float on my back because that's the only move my mak yah taught me when i was small. once in a blue moon on trips to the beach... pantai lido at selat tebrau and stulang laut, was not even good at it.

didn't venture into the water or took up swimming classes since my mak yah. and because of that i can confidently say i am not a swimmer, i cannot be count out to come to anyone's rescue from the deep end of the sea... or pool... or any body of water that's higher than 5' 4"...

Right now

it's 9:53 at night, Saturday. we're resting in front of the fireplace watching Transporter on TV. The movie yang people drive around in mini coopers...

what did we do today??... breakfast kat Panera... makan bagel. buat groceries, and read magazines at Barnes & Nobles... i think Britney and Kevin gonna split... he's a loser. and pics of angelina & brad... aka "bragelina"... katie & tom aka "tomkat"... ammm... cuci mata, tengok pics of the beautiful people.

we did some cleaning up in the basement, cut parts of the old kitchen cabinet for firewood. berguna jugak cabinet huduh tu... warming us up.

chot got to use his new table saw... buzzzzzz buzzzz buzzzz, and we're done. but there was dust everywhere, in my eyes, up my nose...

Pilates

i got a bit tembam when we moved to Waterloo. In Cedar Rapids, i can just walk to the gym to get my exercise. But in waterloo, we had to drive to the nearest gym. we didn't renew our membership this year on account of us not going. Mula2 jek berkobar2, lepas tu banyak la alasan, both munasabah and tak munasabah...

so i told chot i'd just get my exercise through the pilates DVD that's been collecting dust. And whaddayaknow, it really works!!!... they say 3 times a week for 1o weeks to see significant result but it hasn't been 10 weeks yet and i can get into my old jeans and even zip it up... all the way up : )... now... if only i can break this malas spell and continue doing the moves.

i remember evenings of badminton in Gerik. we single-mingle teachers converged at the dewan for games. i only play badminton on account of looking stuput on the tennis court... running to get the ball 90% of the time... ok... 98%...

i had fun in gerik... i will write about gerik later2... definately...

now back to pilates... it works... really... try it... doesn't take that much time pun.

Dia se-le-se-ma cikgu

there was a commercial on malaysian tv a good number of years ago. a teacher taking roll call and this boy was absent. his classmate informed the teacher "dia se-le-se-ma cikgu"... a haliborange (betul ke spelling??) or scott's emulsion commercial.

my mom being the kidder that she is would use the line when any of us sisters or cousins were sick with the flu. would make anyone within earshot smile...

well, i am having a bit of a flu right now... and that's what in my head, my mom and "dia se-le-se-ma cikgu"!!!... : ) ...

First Baby to Visit

Adam Bukhari came to visit us last weekend. We were so delighted to have them over.

He's a strong baby. Can't wait to hike up Smoky Mountain with mama and ayah dia.