hello hello

dah lama dah tak ber blog... it's a mix of kemalasan dan kesakitan : (...

it's due to the changing seasons i think. all of the pollen and ragweed in the air gives us sinus allergies, eyes itches, nose runny, sinus pressure... those kind of mat salleh kesakitan.

the story is with my eyes (mostly). they were red and verryyy itchy. i got scared when it got funky when i put eye drops so decided to visit a doctor. just a regular doctor "doktor biasa- biasa", a general practitioner as oppose to a specialist.

anywhoo, he took one look (a glance more like it) at my eyes and said it was an infection and gave me antibiotic eye drops. although my eyes didn't get any better, they didn't get any worse so i didn't kick up a fuss. but on the 8th day they got swollen... yeah like sly stallone in rocky.

haiyaaa... now what??... so dear husband made an appointment for me to see an eye doctor.

now this guy is great. he put eye drops to make my eyes glow... and he uses his tools and gadgets, he inquires and explains, and entertains questions. spend a good amount of time on me making me feel someone actually cares : )...

so the story is, i was miss diagnosed the first time, given the wrong medication, resulting in me feeling like crap enduring the errr crap my eyes were in. what a waste of time, and money.

i dunno about the rest of u out there (like what?? 3 people on a good day that reads my blog) but i feel that a good doctor is someone who CAREs. doesn't matter if ur a general practitioner. i mean if u care enough, u will be a good doctor... right??...

i miss my family doctor in JB. Dr. Kamal is a very good doctor, my mom best describes him when she (always) says "tengok muka doktor pun dah rasa sihat sikit"... eerrrmmm not that he's a brad pitt just that he truly is concern and it shows on his face.

so the moral of the story... be a caring doctor, even if u miss diagnosed someone, the least u did was to make someone feel better seeing u... now that's medicine : )...

it's definately inside...

lin,

the orchid is "grown" inside because...

ya all have a good weekend ya hear ; )...

donno la

marina was telling me of what songs some of the pictures on my blog reminded her of. sorry lady, i'm bad with names, phone number and song names (and their singers). what was and are currently hits i'd probably listened to but that's about it, just plain ol' listening. sometimes i'll switch on mtv or vh1 just to have some noise in the house but usually... no.

i know now it's that powders guy with his "had a bad day song"... and that "u are beautiful" guy... although i must say, black eye peas punya lagu2 sume sedap and even tempted to buy their CD.

it seems, i have become stuck... just like people before me. stubornly holding on to songs that reminded us of whatever it reminded us of. like my late gandpa with his keroncong (or was it gazal??) and my mom with her sharifah aini... i am stuck at old songs of sting/ police and brian adams...

although i did try to stay in the know when i was working and fell in love with marc anthony (that one album he was professing his love for JLo)... tapi after moving to waterloo, i really didn't care. i only stuck to songs that made me feel good.

and then there's the thing with American Idol... alamak, makcik tak layan la reality snow/ reality talent/ reality drama... don't watch AI, amazing race, that one in the jungle... survivor. no simple life, no hogan knows best... maybe a little ousborne (see??... don't even care if i spelled it wrong)...

so tak tau la lagu pasal cherry blossom yang AI contestant tu nyanyi while crawling on the stage. but i know the cranberries... i partly thank u for that marina!!!... u put ur cassette player to good use in kuantan time. haiya!!!... am currently smiling remembering all those zombie sessions... "zombie... zombie.... zombieeh... eeeiihh.. eeiihhh"... : D... lin, u remember???...

later when we became roomates that trusty cassette player lull us to sleep. now let me tell u people, this lady loves songs... LOVES... with drawers full of tapes... FULL... if ever college didn't work out, she'll be a swell DJ...

purple

tak tahan...

i was at my friend lin's website (i always visit) and today she posted adorable pics of her tia. don't get me wrong, this little pumpkin (makcik lin, so fitting when u refer to tia as pumpkin) is always adorable, a.l.w.a.y.s : ). i get the urge to rush there if it weren't for the fact that they live in UK.

i told lin i wanted to try and use these pics of the pumpkin as my computer screen wallpaper... and a few clicks later, this is the result... i just had to, tak malu la pi taruk gambar anak orang lain kat comp sendiri, tapi... tapi... aunty win tak tahhhaaaaannn... so darn cute...



click here for the post

yap yap yap

i felt like yapping with no particular topic in mind.

i made kuih today, buah melaka. tak mau la ambik gambar dia coz they look like how buah melaka should look like... and i think all malaysians know how they look. apart from shumaila that's happily enjoying her visit home to pakistan and will not be reading my blog, buah melaka is buah melaka, is buah melaka... eehhmm eehhmm good...

minor glitch in the beginning when i used the wrong tepung (tepung beras instead of tepung pulut) making the mixture ssoooooo runny, a closer look at the recipe made me realized my mistake. and down the drain it went. sayang la wasted my precious esen pandan (tq audra : )... )

yap yap yap... there's a strong wind advisory today. the wind is blowing hard outside. chot said it's like 35 miles per hour winds... kuat lah tu agaknye. and it's osso nippy outside. chot had to move his pokok back inside, takut2 nanti terkejut sebab sejuk and mim alif ta y... saya sangat suck at jawi....

yap yap yap... perut dah buncit coz i haven't been doing my pilates. almost everyday chot would ask if i did any... "why??... u think i'm fat??"... : )...

no, don't get me wrong. he's just trying to start a conversation. i realized it's a challenge for him to make we talk... he's a list of favourite Q's

1) bangun pukul berapa hari nie?
2) siapa email hari nie?
3) email siapa hari nie?
4) dah buat pilates hari nie?... belum... hari nie belum...
5) when i started blogging... blog apa hari nie?
6) ada siapa call u hari nie?... (coz he knows i'm bad at calling people. so he doesn't ask if called anyone...)
7) dah makan?

a few days back, i reallllyyy didn't feel like talking so i told him "i tak mau cakap, why don't u call kawan peoria"... teruk perangai... i know...

ok, enough yapping... i've reached my blogging time limit.

p/s. i want to put a pic but the site is experiencing some problems...

mighty suspicious

this came out of Berita Harian online newspaper today. this elephant is no more, found barely alive by the wildlife and park ranger people with a bullet wound on it's head. it's mighty suspicious when this female elephant was found around the same area where the mom and baby elephants took a stroll the other day.

i feel sick to my stomach... this poor elephant didn't do anything wrong. we went into their home, cleared their forest and erected our houses and our kampungs and our schools... and then got scared or even pissed off at these guys for endangering us when it's the other way around. u have no right to hurt and kill them sir when they can be moved to a safer location. this is totally uncalled for...

wish i was there

this picture came out of the star online newspaper. how interesting i said to myself, to be able to see elephants in the wild... i mean, wild elephants in the wild??... but it is dangerous, them being so big and us being so small... even trained elephants in zoos can seriously cause sorrow when they want to.

now, this happened near Gerik, Perak. I know that area coz i spend 2 years of my life teaching in a school on a hill in the jungles of Gerik. in my 2 years there, i was kindda on the lookout for wild animals... wouldn't that be some kind of coolness?? this city gal can boast to her city family and friends "oh... just the other day we had elephants stroll through the front gate"... but no, never happened...

the closest i came to a wild animal was the cobra bai (my friend) ran over with her housemate's car. it was a hot (always) and sunny (always) afternoon, we were wizzing our way back to school from Gerik town. turned the corner and there it was, streached across the middle of the road this long glistening black thing. we both held our breath as we went over the sorry soul... (do snakes have souls??...)

but i think the snake had long lost it's life before our borrowed wheels crushed more bones. we went ka bump and that's as close as i came to anything wild... a dead snake.

the school i taught is a boarding school and i stayed in the school compound. dreading the warden title but car-less to stay outside. i got ready in the morning to the sound of the jungle coz every morning without fail, the monkeys greeted us with monkey noises... not chimp talk, it was something else. was somewhat soothing actually... hmmm... i wonder if only jakun city folk thinks that...

a guy in our office once told me of answering the phone and a lady at the other end asked if we have elephants in the area. the lady was suppose to come and teach but she never showed up. of course there's elephants in Gerik but it's not like they stroll down the street or anything... ; )

cherry tree

sharing pics of the cherry tree. we have 11 fruit trees on the property, i think 3 of them are cherry trees. they were the first to bloom, crisp white flowers...

don't know if the cherries are any good coz the birds ate them all last year. .... they sell those nets use to cover the whole tree but no... have other things to care for so we'll just let the birds have them for now.

am i moody or am i not moody

i read that people on lupron get moody (yeah, lets all blame the drug)... although there is truth in it coz this moodyness has been lingering for days. but i do try (very hard) to have patience and not let the mood swings get the best of me.

but don't blame me for being angry when you sprinkle lawn fertilizer and weed killer and only when the work is done, read the instruction... whaddayaknow... you did it wrong. and don't get angry at me for getting angry at you.

and i am still angry... am tempted to put on shoes and walk out the door but it's dark outside and he's using the car.

why am i getting worked up over fertilizer... wtf... damn drug...

coffee break

it's been a few days since my last post... i was conciously trying to keep away coz some remarked how i have a lot of time (dunie and audra, don't feel bad or anything ok : ? ) to spend on creating posts and stuff like that...

it's my own doing see... i did sit in front of the computer and neglected house chores and projects. patut la banyak masa, not only don't i work, i didn't even do house work : D...

there's nothing wrong with blogging, just me making myself feel bad indulging. felt the same when i eat too much chocolate.

so, i went and did a lot of ironing... like A LOT... washing, cleaning, tidying up... u know, boring stuff. and cooked and baked...

and here i am today!!!... blogging and not feeling bad about it!!!... ok, maybe a little bad, tak habis gosok baju lagi... didn't i say A LOT : D... this way, it feels more like taking a break from (never ending) house chores rather than taking a break from blogging to do chores ; D...

have some pics to share. took these like 5 days ago. this is how it looks when asparagus sprout. there's a huge bulb under there and asparagus continously sprout during its short season. we plan to dig it up and move it coz right now it's scattered.

when they grow up to 3 to 4 inches, i'd go and collect them. but would only use the first 3 inches or so. as the asparagus grow, the stalk (can i call it that??) will get fiberous and not fit for comsumption. the ones yang dah kena potong is still growing. and at the end of the season (when the stalk gets thin is when harvesting stops and we let them grow.

now, i need to go back there and collect some more. i know the ones that's just breaking ground are tall enough by this time.

cuteness

FLOWER +GIRL =
FLOWER GIRL
Audra send me these pics of ika with the tulips. the shot of both together is meaningful : )... and darn cute!!!...

let me try this again

i admit that my tech knowledge is limited, so when i post that bit about HOUSE FOR SALE, i thought i did it right. waitsaminute, i did do it right!!!...

i made a flier for that house and saved it as a pdf. knowing that i need a place to host the document, i use yahoo briefcase. yahoo photos to host my picture albums, so yahoo briefcase can host my documents. felt like a genius figuring that out allll by myself.

until anis point out that clicking on the link doesn't direct her to the document. waaaaahhh???.... rupanya2, i need to pay for an upgrade then it'll work. rats...

i'm sure if i dig deep enough, search long enough, i'll find a place to host my documents on the web for FREE but alas, i'll just settle for this way... my way.

if it needs getting done and u don't know how to do it proper, just wing it!!!... "buat cara bodoh" my mom would always say.

so this is the the cara bodoh... click here for my do-over...

blooms from the our cherry fruit tree

HOUSE FOR SALE... (this again??)...

Newly constructed Dahlia Growhomes Double Storey Standard Bungalow on freehold land. Located on a corner lot in Nilai Impian, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan.

Asking price RM380,000.00. Call Encik Jaafar or Puan Asmah at (03) 4022-3132 for further inquiries.

Property Details

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 3
Dining room: 1
Dry kitchen: 1
Wet kitchen: 1
Living room: 1
Car porch: 1
Store room: 1
family room: 1
Balcony: 2
Land area: 6,515 sq. ft.
House size: 1, 518 sg. ft

wuzzup!!!

nothing much. what is there in a life of a fulltime housewife with no kids... in the midwest.

weekend went well. the weather was nice so we did stuff outside. went to lowe's and pi gatal beli a pond kit (a good deal at 50% off)... so a pond looks promising in the near future : )...

also bought cement and used it in an attempt to rebuilt the rose planter. that rose planter was the first thing we re-did when we moved in. because we didn't really know what we were doing, it ended up looking bad.

cement is kindda cool but we didn't buy enough so the weekend project isn't a weekend project after all. maybe today we'll finish it up. i hope it doesn't rain. and i hope chot's leg gets better.

chot pulled his thigh muscle playing soccer yesterday. it's only the second game in the league (first game gave him a bloody nose). i had to drive him to work coz by the time he was ready, it was already 9 ish. by this (late of a) time, the only empty parking lots are far away. so i drove and dropped him right in front of the main door.

we're currently watching this anime. it's reeeaallly slow (and stupid) in the beginning. the first 3 dvds are set in feudal japan and the last 2 in the presant day. and it's kindda scary the way their eyes don't blink. have 1 more dvd to go.

and also watching samurai 7... this is better. there's an old japanese movie from the 1950's called "7 samurai". it has the same premis but set in the future.

i like animation but chot is the anime lover. he'll remember the name of the characters whereas i will not. he'll talk about the characters as if they're real people (dorky...) whereas i will definately not. he'll watch an anime series again (and again) whereas i won't... i'd say "kan dah tengok, kenapa nak tengok lagi??"... he'll go "sebab suka..."... iyo la.

if he has time, he'll play inuyasha before he goes to work. inuyasha is quite good but a bit soap opera-ish coz it's never ending.

HOUSE FOR SALE

CHOT & I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF THE INFO IS SPREAD AROUND.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS.

TQ MUCH : )...

Happy Birthday

senyuman menawan

cair aunty win dibuatnye : D...

DONE

I am very very proud to show this picture. time, energy and sweat was put in and this is the result. chot and i finished rebuilding the retaining wall sampai ke depan and mulch the whole area. we only kept 2 of the evergreen shrubs and the hydrangea bush (that's the bunch of twigs on the ground). the rest made their way to plant heaven.

and this is how it looked before. chocked with overgrown bushes. click here for before and after pictures.

random

Asparagus from the back garden. stir fried with oyster sauce and garlic powder for dinner. crispy and sweet. we didn't plant these, was already here when we bought the property. tq old owner couple sir and/or madam...

FRESH = TASTY

Coca Cola's new product, coke with coffee... yes... coffee. Being regular coffee drinkers, we just had to try this out. I didn't like it, chot says he'll drink it but because one bottle (small 8 oz) costs around the same as gourmet coffee, he'd rather buy coffee coffee.

coke + coffee = not good

UNDER THE BRIDGE

WARNING... these pics are disturbing...

picture no. 1 was forwarded by chot's friend in malaysia. i zoomed in so it'd be clearer...

haii-yaaa!!!!... the ghost looks like chot... doesn't it??...

well, some friends and i think so. what do u think??

: D... no wonder kids can't help but stare at chot... this uncle looks scary huh??... : D...

THIS IS FOR LIN

GET WELL SOON LIN... HOPE YOU'RE FEELING BETTER DAY BY DAY.

CAN'T READ JAPANESE (IS THIS JAPANESE??) BUT I FEEL THE KITTEN IS REALLY SAYING GET WELL... OR AT LEAST SOMETHING ALONG THAT LINE : )...

in the spirit of spring 2

i was outside taking a picture of the retaining wall for the previous post and decided to snap some of the buds and blooms. "why not" i told myself, people passing by already think i'm odd, taking picture of a wall... at least while i'm focusing my camera on plant material, i look like a nature enthusiast : )...

the cherry blossom tree is showing its buds...

and daffodils...

when i first took a pic of these buds, i didn't know they're daffodils but later they bloomed... and being an english lit. major, this William Wordsworth's poem came to mind. Enjoy!!!...

The Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never - ending line

Along the margin of a bay;

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out - did the sparkling waves in glee.

A poet could not be but gay.

In such a jocund company;

I gazed - and gazed - but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought;

For often when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils

weekend warriors

there's a show on HGTV- home and garden tv (astro got or not??) called weekend warriors where homeowners do home improvement projects on the weekend / weekends.

since buying this house, we have fallen... i mean qualified ourselves into this group of people. lots of weekends have been spent toiling away at making this house ours, putting our personal touches or rather making it look bearable.

this weekend was a warrior weekend. it was a nice and warm day saturday so after breakfast, we did front garden work. chot cleared out dead and dried up leaves and plant at one side of the house while i leveled the soil on the retaining wall side. later, chot helped me coz my back had begun to ache, like it's shouting "help!! help!!... stop!! can't take no more..."

we worked from around 11 am, up to like 7 pm with breaks for lunch and solat. leveled the soil, put on plastic and weed barrier, and lastly mulch (that's the brown stuff on top, it is chips of wood). this is how it looks now...

and this is how it looked when we started.

*note* the straight and better looking retaining wall... our friends madie & emmy drove all the way from Kansas City and helped us re-built it. Click here for pics.

i wanted to do more on sunday and hopefully finish this side of the property but my lembek arms had begun to throb. i went to bed regretting pushing myself too far as the slightest movement send pain throughout my body.

when we woke up for subuh, chot had the nerve to ask "sakit lagi tangan (does it still hurt)??"... i only managed a weak but slightly agitated "EEMMM". inside, my blood was a little boiling.

what kind of question is that??... of course they still hurt. but i know he meant well... : ). and later that day he said when he does labor intensive work, he'd do them slowly / bit by bit so he can go longer and possibly do more in the end on account of the body doesn't burn out early. ok, make sense, i'll remember that next time... silly girl...

so on sunday, i stayed in while chot went on another boat ride and later, yard related stuff. that night, i helped him do a little wiring and i'm very, very happy to report that i can now use my dishwasher (all this while, it was just there for show... oh not really... before this it was a glorified dish drainer). we did a test run to see if the dishwasher works well and there's no water dripping.

there we were, standing in the kitchen, looking at the dishwasher doing it's thing. i felt stupid
: D...

anywhooo... that's our weekend, how was yours??

there's a man on the roof

the previous post wasn't particularly cheerful so i thought i'd post one that is... chot says he's a bit scared of heights but i know deep, deep inside he likes it coz i t makes him feel tall (ok... bad joke...)

the first one was taken last year when he was on the roof cleaning out the gutter. And the second one was to clear the snow off the roof and the last one was a few days back... osso of him cleaning out the gutter. we do plan to buy and put in those gutter screen... something to do this spring or summer.

he came in the house and protested... i mean ask...

why wasn't i outside helping him?? he was calling and calling out my name coz he wanted to get off the roof but can't see the laddder (thought i moved it)... he said he'd be on the roof until night time agaknye coz i was happily blogging : )...

at my defense, i said it was cold outside, and i didn't think he might need help. and, takkan la i'd move the ladder and not tell him. and next time, to bring his handphone with him : )...

the end...

what a headache...

i missed posting for a few days, felt like a part-time job pulak making myself post everyday... i'm even starting playing that damn hexic game again... i've fallen off the wagon : D... the deal i made to myself was to write on my blog rather than wasting time with hexic...

so??... what am i gonna write about today... hmmm... how about my current situation??

had bad headaches last night. i'm guessing it's because of the lupron medication. it is a side effect... and hot flashes... and heart palpitations... and (i'm sure i'm not embarassing myself coz i'm pretty sure only gals read my blog) vaginal dryness... and tiredness... and joint pain... and maybe other symptoms that i am experiencing but clueless to pick up.

i did an internet search yesterday on lupron and endo. which made me feel not so good. so i'm just gonna blurred everything out, maybe i can make myself feel better by doing so...

there was this website where people wrote about how lupron's side effect made them feel horrible and all, regretting ever taking the shot... and saying how doctors don't care enough. looking at my condition, i'm thankful that my side effects are not severe, that i can deal with them although the part about doctors not caring enough rings true coz i wish my doctor showed a bit more compassion.

i was poking my head in those websites, looking to see if tiredness is a side effect coz i've been feeling so very tired. for example, i made lunch on monday and cakes that same evening but felt tired the whole day, up to tuesday. anyhow, there was a lady recounting her experience on being so tired when she was on lupron that she fell asleep at work. again, i'm thankful that i don't work... that the bed is just in the next room if ever i need to nap... and i'm thankful that chot loves me enough to put up with me.

also, was wondering if anyone in those websites talked about conceiving after lupron. i didn't find any. just this one lady writing that her doctor advised to wait 6 months after the last day of lupron treatment to make sure all the drug is out of the system. so that made me feel discouraged... i mean on top of all the waiting i've done, i have to wait some more. and when the time comes for me to ask my doctor, if she says it's ok to try ASAP, i know i'm gonna feel she doesn't care, to advised me to conceive with lupron still in my system.

and then there is the concern of actually being able to conceive... for some, it just doesn't happen or hard to happen. oh i dunno, some days i feel i need to have children and some days i see the coolness of just being able to be by myself doing individual oriented activities.

it would be nice though, to have kiddies... to have pieces of chot and me making up another human being. but it is scary to raise a child right with all the bad in the world... the what if's... god!!!... makes the hairs on my neck stand. what if that little bugger grows up to be a disappointment. but even then, i'd take the risk i think, we would work at raising filial offsprings who will pray for our souls when we're no longer living.

if it never ever happens despite oh i dunno... all the IVF and everything. wouldn't it be sad?? like a scene from a badly made tv drama swasta... if all my life would be this disease called endometriosis. and my in-laws not having any grandkids coz their only menantu is defective.

oh man... all these emotions is giving me a headache... : )... and so i go again...

in the spirit of spring

it's spring... hooray!!!... we survived the winter.

winter was a great concern for us because we have a looonnggg driveway and it slopes down. this makes snow removal very challenging (and back breaking). Even with the purchase of a snow blower, it was a workout. yes, my muscle reminded me day in and day out of how sore it was...

enough about winter and snow... it's spring!!! and here's some spring pictures fresh from the (oven??...) hehheh... fresh of the press... taken just a few minutes ago. I dunno what kind of flower the yellow one is but the green one is sedum (it's not a flower, just looked a bit like one)... i planted that last year, i mean... transplanted. sedum doesn't really rest during winter so it doesn't really come back in spring.

anyways, there are other spring bulbs and plants sprouting, maybe if i'm in the mood, i'll venture outside again.

osso... pics of wildlife. chot went on a boat ride with his work buddy last weekend. took some of these pictures at the lake.

ducks pair for life right??... yes i think so...

chot came home and was sneezing his head off. he joked that those ducks gave him "bird flu"... haha...

he also told me he walked next to a parked car at the lake and there was a couple doing "it"... at which point i ask...

"did u take any pictures??"... he said no... : ) so just pictures of the ducks then : )...