A Message from Mummy

It is my second time here, being in transit in a city called Dubai. While waiting for my turn to pray Subuh (by the way, it is now 5.20 a.m. here in Dubai), I decided to try out the wireless internet connection at this Business Lounge. I miss home dearly. I miss my twins.

Don't worry sweethearts.. mummy will be back soon. Thank you abang for allowing me to go on this trip.

I Have To Leave My Kids Again...

Why do I have to go through all this? Why do I have to leave my kids again for 6 long days????? I feel like such a lousy mom. I tried to warn my kids this week, "Nanti mama pergi XXXXX, kakak dengan adik jangan nangis yer.. jangan cari mama yer.." (I am going to XXXXX, please don't cry.. and please don't look for me okay?)

The younger one seems stronger and more understanding. She would just nod her head and smile, and tell her twin that I will be going to work. But then the elder one.. she's different. She'll make this really sad face, and say "kakak nak mama" (I want you mom). It really breaks my heart to see them like this...

When can I be financially independent so that I don't have to work and I can then look after my kids??????? See.. this needs planning..... I should start doing so. But then how can you even sit down to plan your future when you have so much office work to complete????? (Yeah right.. you still have time to blog right??)

Pray for my wellbeing while I am there..

A Long Needed Break

I think I definitely deserve that long break. I needed it. We needed it. We had a fun time with the kids. My twins, as usual, attracted too many comments from the public that we decided that it was a bit too much. I mean, anywhere we went, it was like, "Are those twins?" "Kembar yer?" "They look exactly the same" "They look like their father". Allah... Thank you for this beautiful gift!

The visit to the zoo was enjoyable. My kids had so much fun running around that towards the end of the visit, they suddenly decided that they are too tired to walk. So, my husband and I had to carry them. Now, that really made us tired since each of them weighs almost 16 kgs! The funny part was when we watched the multi-animal show. The orangutan was so clever, and when it waved goodbye, my twins couldn't resist shouting "Bye Bye Monyet" (Bye Bye Monkey) loudly - and that really caught everyone's attention.

But then, Aquaria was a different story altogether. If you have not been, you should. No, you must. It was incredible. I even feel that it is better that Sydney Aquarium and definitely better than Underwater World Langkawi. You can see Allah's creation around you! Magnificent!

I enjoyed myself too much I guess.. and I now I am not in the mood to work...

Summer People

There was a book sale by Pay Less Books last week, in Ipoh. I bought three books, one of them "Summer People" by Elin Hilderbrand. I decided to read this one first - not for any specific reason though. I just had a good feeling about it.

"Summer People" is a good read, terrific. The story is about how the death of Archer, a well-known lawyer, changed the lives of the people around him. Archer was defending a murderer, Constance, who suffered a horrible life due to her brother's and sister-in-law's involvement with drugs. She intended to save her nine-year old niece from becoming a prostitute, but ended up killing her sister-in-law and her niece. So, Archer got so involved in the case, and on his way home from meeting with a witness, his plane crashed.

Archer and his wife has a pair of twins, Garrett and Winnie. They will always spend summer in Nantucket where his wife, Beth inherited a summer house. Right before Archer's death, he invited Constance's son, Marcus to join them the coming summer. And Beth decided to honor her husband's wish and invited Marcus to come along even though Archer was not there.

Marcus and Winnie fell in love. Garrett fell in love with Piper, David's daughter. David by the way, was once married to Beth for two weeks when they were still young. But then Beth never revealed this to anyone. And then that summer, Garrett and Winnie found out and started hating their mom for keeping that secret from them.

The thing that I found interesting about this book was how Beth, who lost her husband, dealt with the twins and how she managed to turn David's offer to get back together. She was so lonely, and she needed someone to lean on. David was there, but she loved Archer and will not replace him just because she was feeling lonely.

And I like how Piper dealt with her getting pregnant with Garrett's child at the age of 17. It is true what people say, you don't have to be trained to become matured. It just comes naturally.

Overall, it was a good read. I finished it in 8 hours.

Planned Trip and a New Laptop

It has been a week since I last updated my blog. Yes.. I have been busy trying to complete all the current outstanding tasks as I will be on leave starting tomorrow until the 21st of December. Yahoo!! Can't wait to spend some quality time with my loved ones. My husband and I are planning to take the kids to KL on Sunday morning for a two-nights stay. We have made plans to visit a few places in KL e.g. Aquaria and the Zoo. I mean, where else can you take the kids? They are only 2 years plus - and I can bet they won't remember a thing by the time they reach home after the trip. Really looking forward for it.

Anyway, the Ipoh PC Fair was on last weekend at Ipoh Parade. We took the kids on Saturday night, just to get a glimpse on what was offered. Something really funny happened though.. While we were having some snacks at one of the restaurants, an elderly woman stared and smiled at us for some time. I noticed that she was looking at my kids. And finally she approached us.. To my shock, she said to me, "They are twins, aren't they? Would you like to be my "besan"?" (Besan means your child's parents-in-law). My husband laughed so loudly, that everyone stared at him. Really, it was funny. I mean my kids are only 2 years plus. Then I realize that she had twin boys with her, about 9 years of age. Haa.. now I see her point. But then again.. we just smiled. "Insya Allah.. if Allah permits" I said to her. Hmm..

We went back the next day without the kids and after nearly 4 hours, we bought ourselves a new laptop. My old one is almost broken already - it's been 5 years. It costed us nearly $4000 ringgit. But it was a good deal for me. 12", 1 GB RAM and 60 GB Hard Disk. Is it?

240 kms away from home

I am sitting here alone, 240 kilometers away from my twins. It is nearly midnight, and I just don't feel sleepy at all. I miss them. Too much. Lately, they haven't been very easy to deal with - probably because of the traveling. I called them this evening, right after the meeting, and they were crying - obviously after a fight. The younger twin didn't want to speak to me. She's probably holding a grudge against me for leaving her again. But the elder twin couldn't wait to speak to me. And when she spoke with a very sad voice, "kakak nak mama" (i want my mom) - i just couldn't control my tears. My husband, who was driving at that time, tried to speak to the elder one, "takpe.. nanti esok abah dan mama balik okay.. kakak jangan nangis ye..." (it's okay, we'll be back tomorrow, please don't cry). But she just cried and cried. I cried too. I hate being away from them.

And what makes things worse is that during the meeting today, the boss decided that I have to travel overseas again. Arghhh! Why me?? It won't take long - only 5 days so it won't be too bad. Yeah, right! I haven't really decided if I want to go, but I'll think about it. My husband has agreed to let me go though. He says that I should grab this opportunity. Hmm.. but what about the kids???

Anyway, I met an old friend at KLCC today. I think I last met her when I was in high school. That's about 14 years ago! She hasn't changed much though. Except that she is pregnant with her second child. Congratulations RMH.

And today, I was asked this question, "Bila nak tambah lagi?" (literally means, when are you planning to have another child??) I could just smile.

Colmar Tropicale

My husband and I were here on Monday and Tuesday. For the second time. The first time was with the kids, and my parents but this time around, it was just us.

I love this place. And I am definitely coming back.. if the time and money permits.

Mawi.. Yang Tercinta

I have decided to write a review on Mawi's new studio album titled Yang Tercinta. I bought it a week ago.. and have been listening to it on my way to and from the office.. just to really get a feel of it.

No doubt, he has a great voice. And I especially like the songs Kian and Perempuan, other than Aduh Saliha of course. And the duet song with M Nasir, is a another good one.

However, despite the good voice and the okay songs, I still feel that Mawi would perform best on sentimental songs. I mean.. I could never forget the way he sang Dewa's Pupus, Nassier Wahab's Memori Cinta Luka and even Jamal's Kekasih Awal dan Akhir. He has got a good control of his voice and he can really sing high notes.

But to hear him sing such 'fast' songs with loud music.. I just think that he could have done better. Maybe M Nasir should start composing slower ballads for Mawi to sing.. maybe something like the most famous "Suatu Masa".. Imagine Mawi singing that song... :)

Note: My husband likes Yang Tercinta better than Mawi's AF songs because he hates sentimental songs.

My Brother

I am the youngest of two siblings, and I have an elder brother who is 4 years older than I am. He is currently a cardiologist at IJN in KL.

My brother loves his job. He is extremely devoted to his job. So, once in awhile, knowing that he tends to forget a lot of things, I do remind him of important dates e.g. birthdays, anniversaries etc...

So, last Tuesday, he celebrated his 7th wedding anniversary. Knowing that he'll never pick up the phone during working hours, I decided to send him an SMS.

"Happy 7th Anniversary"

And I suddenly got a reply from him... "same to you".

HUH???????????????

I just couldn't stop laughing. I guess he didn't realize that the message was from me. He must have thought that it was from his wife. So, I called my sis-in-law, who just completed a C-section (she is an O&G specialist at one of the local hospitals) at that time and related the story to her.

We just laughed and laughed and laughed for nearly ten minutes.

Nothing's changed, huh?