Change of my routines

 

It started within the recent fasting months (Ramadhan)

Regardless of how late I reached home, I still made an effort to cook  favorite dishes of my beloved. Its so satisfying to see them enjoying my cooking. For the first time in many years, I didn't visit the Ramadan Bazaar. I chose to do the cooking. Although I am not a good cook, I still believe that my family will remember the moment of us breaking our fast together, eating home cook dishes, which prepared with lots of love.

Ramadhan has past, but preparing home cooked dishes continue. Coming back from work is no longer a time to rest. Cook ..eat..clean..clean.. and clean. Before retiring to bed, selectively, I hand  wash my clothing too, as I don't trust the launderette to handle them, especially those of a soft materials.

House chores were never been my favorite, but I have no choice at this moment, since my maid went back to her hometown.

Going around every corner of my little house with wet towel wasn't an easy task physically and mentally, especially seeing the towel getting darker and darker. I realized then how much dust had been accumulated and which corner was never been touched by my helper. I am blaming it to myself for leaving the house chores totally handled by her.

When I completed the cleaning tasks, I could feel the difference in the air that I breathed. hhhmmmmmhhh…. so satisfying.

Talking about ‘hoarder’, I’ve never learned the word until I watched a documentary, one day. Clearing the unused items in my house reminded me of that documentary. I closed one eye and dumped lots of stuff into the waste basket. That wasn't easy for me to do. Then I realized that, I was quite a hoarder.

“I’ve just got to stop it” I thought to myself.

“Stop bringing more items into the house” I kept reminding myself.

BUT… they only lasted a month if not less.

Let me tell you what happened……………

The cause……………….I decided not to renew my membership at the gym & I am on medication to treat Hyperthyroid & I started taking vitamins that I need, based on my doctor’s advice, which giving me more energy and more appetite to eat..eat…and eat…

The implication……………..I gained weight and now ‘almost’ going towards  a non-proportionate shape.… You know what I mean…. M-top and XL-bottom. “Is your wife pregnant?”.. my neighbor asked my hubby recently. (big laugh) I was not shocked though.

The solution…………… TBP : to be planned. (I mean..not the pregnancy…  but the solution.

The workaround ………………. change my wardrobe and keep all the shrunk (I wished) clothing aside, JUST IN CASE IF I EVER RETURN TO THAT SIZE AGAIN. At this time, the motto ‘Stop bringing more items into the house’ didn't, however, having no helper in the house, I only buy clothes made of materials that doesn't need a pressing. Phew….At least I know I still have the smartness in me.

That answered why I couldn't spend much time blogging.

ops..!! I have something on the stove.. gotta run..!!!

The story behind Eidil Adha

 

This Eid is celebrated  on the 10th day of the 12th months of the Muslim calendar (Zulhijjah/ Zil-Hajj). This year, the festival falls on the 15th October 2013.

Eidil Adha or Eidul Adha, regardless of the spelling, in Malaysia is known as Hari Raya Haji (Hajj Celebration Day). It is celebrated in relation to the performance of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, known as Hajj.

This special day is also known as the Festival of Sacrifice,as those who have the means would sacrifice animals like sheep and cattle and would donate the meat to the poor and charitable homes.It is a practice done in commemoration of the sacrifice undertaken by Prophet Abraham (Peace Be Upon Him).

A bit of the history………..

Prophet Abraham’s faith was tested by Allah when he was asked to sacrifice his son. His love for his son was great, but his love for Allah was greater. For the love of God, Abraham pulled himself together and placed the knife on the throat of his beloved son, who was then readily consented to be sacrificed.

Suddenly a sheep appeared and Abraham heard the voice of the Archangel Gabriel, delivering the message from God to replace the sheep in the place of his son, to be slaughtered , instead.

The sacrificing of these animals on every Eidul Adha is done as the way of expressing the inner feeling that, if need be, a Muslim will sacrifice his most loved possession of God.

There are a  few versions of this story, and I’m sharing one of them here.

Food for thoughts

 

(This is a reminder to myself and those I care)

Those who spend generously in The Way of Allah whether they are in prosperity or in adversity, who control their anger and forgive other people, Allah loves such charitable people (3: 134)

Serve Allah and do not commit shirk (associate any partner with Him), and be good to your parents, relatives, orphans, the helpless, far and near neighbors who keep company with you, the travelers in need……….. Allah does not love those who are arrogant and boastful (4:36)

Paying Zamri a visit

He is a pilot who rides big bike and loves jet skiing, as I was told. 3 days ago I received his photo looking so worrying. He got my sudden concern.

He was caught in a tragic accident.

I was shocked to see this photo of his. So were the rest of the family members.

Was there a plane crash?

That was the first thing came to my mind. I was wrong.

Who in the world would expect for a Pilot,  Captain Zamri , to be caught under a pile of heavy teak woods?? and within his own compound???

OH EMM GEE..!!!

The incident was captured on CCTV. It happened so quick. Thank God, the construction workers, who were then renovating his house and his children were fast enough to recover him from under those heavy piles.

Today, a week after the incident, I, accompanied by my hubby, my islander eldest SIL and her hubby who flew all the way from Penang island, visited The Captain at the hospital.

Aye..aye.. Sir..!! but where is the plane?

  Zamri is still as joyful as he is known to be. He looked much..much..much better than the last photo I saw, sent by my youngest SIL, 2 days back. He laughed to our jokes and he too, able to crack one.

Phew..! what a relief to see him with a smile.

He suffers from 1 broken rib and his pelvic on the right side. ouch..! I can imagine the pain. May Allah grant him strength to pass through the trauma.

He is a relative by marriage to my hubby. We would meet during wedding of family members, or during Eids. Though I could detect his fun character, I never had a chance to get to know him better. Today however, I felt as if my heart dropped, and filled with sympathy seeing him in that position. I prayed for him to recover well. Poor Zamri.

  He is so lucky to have such a loving family who took care of him well, though. His pretty daughter,Iqa, was busy spoon feeding him when we excused ourselves, after about half an hour later.

Get well soon, my dear cousin brother. Lets get together again like we used to in every Eid occasion.

No news is good news

 

I’ve been away for my blogging activities, for a while. Sorry for the long pause, but no worries…No news is good news. I’m fine and eating well and gaining weight pretty well too, should you want to know.

Today, I’ve got news for you. Do you notice anything in this photo? Look closely…..zoom….

This morning, as I looked outside of the window of my office, which is 10th floor above the scene, I saw it.

A drawing on the parking lot, the police car and another vehicle of forensic unit ……… take a guess.

yup… you are right, there was a dead body. Others said it happened much earlier, during the wee hours.

I only noticed when the body was bagged and loaded in the police car. Check this out…

 

Curiosity caused me to stand still outside the compressor room, looking down to the ground, with my camera in hand. click..click..click…

Then I saw those police officers taking the body bag down 

AND THEN…………..

they opened the black bag….

AND THEN……….

Look closely….. a pair of sexy legs, I saw. It could have been a woman. A fair woman. I had no clue of its gender nor its origin.

 

  My camera continued clicking…. click…click..

click..

Next, there came a police’s dog sniffing its way on the dead body, following order of its trainer.

click..  click..   

click…

The sniffing business was over and they sealed the bag and returned it into the police 4-Wheel Drive.

      

I looked up to the apartment across the road…..

None of the window were opened.

Until almost lunch time, the dead body was still in the vehicle. I guess there were more investigation being carried then.

There goes my lunch for today. I skipped lunch. I was feeling nausea all day.

What happened …? you asked..?

Thats the same question I had and still having.

She maybe got frustrated and jumped out of the window…

or

killed and thrown out of the balcony?..

or

fell off unintentionally?…

or

ok ..ok..lets just scrap all the maybe’s and perhap’s. We leave it to the Policemen to handle.

Back to work.!

Now THATS NEWS.

Indonesia has it all

 

Does this place look familiar.?

  

How about these places.?

 

And these.?

or may be these.?

Bandung, Indonesia..!!!

Yes.!! Again, I visited this colorful country. The richness of its culture overrode my hatred on traffic congestion.

If you ask me whether or not I still plan to go there, my answer is “YES, my dear SIL, 2T, I will”. She, who had been waiting for my writeup about my latest journey to Indonesia.

I still remember when I, for the 1st time travelled with them, all my SILs. We chose Bandung as our 1st destination. It was fun and full of shopping, that we cancelled all the list in the itinerary, but shopping and SPA-ing and eating.

That was about 4 years ago.

 

My recent trip was with my family and officemates.

 

Arriving in Jakarta via AirAsia wasnt that crowded as the airport is specially for AirAsia and another flight use only.

We then took a coach, direct to Bandung. The place is not too far from Jakarta. We wouldnt have to spend 4 hours on the road if I wasnt for the speed limit and the traffic congestion. I remember spending only about 2 hours journey on my previous trip.

It was quite tiring. I spent my time capturing scenery, sign boards and anything at all, ahead of me.

 

 

As the scene changes from  green to grey and the noise pollution started to sip in, I knew we have reached our destination.

 

The ‘Sado’ (cart pulled by a horse) reminded me of Pakistan. It captured our attention.

 

It was 1pm local time when we reached the restaurant. That was 2 pm Malaysian time and its considered a very late lunch for me. Most of us had  had butterflies in our tummy then. 

   It was tiring, but we were all happy.

Especially when the food served were mostly my favorite.

Nasi Padang.

  “We have 1 hour to eat. We dont want to miss the show” Warned Danial, our Tour Guide.

There we were… at the Angklung Udjo place.

It was fun watching the kids playing and dancing to the harmonious sound of  ‘Angklung’ , a music instrument made of Bamboo.

  The audience were brought in to join the orchestra at the end of the show. It was a fun and unforgettable thrill.

That was an exciting performance. The rest of the day was spent in the bus. Sensa Hotel happened to be in the middle of the busiest road ‘Chihampelas’, which coincidently, that very night had 2 continuous concerts. HOHOHO…………..can you imagine how congested that could be?

We were tucked in our seat in the bus for hours until all the shops were closed for the day. There goes our shopping for that day.

Oh ya… we had a roadside musician to entertain us though.

How much to pay him? No numbers. Its all up to individual to contribute.

Day 2……

      Everyone was excited to go on tour.  Lets go..! Said Danial.

 

WHOAAAHH…….. Picturesque ‘Kawah Ratu’ is calling everyone to witness…………

Kawah Ratu (Ratu Crater) promises a beautiful view.

 

It was a little too crowded for our comfort, then, though. They said, Bandung is always packed whenever its a holiday in Malaysia.

I used this picture of mine and my hubby at the place, as my Facebook photo. The background is ‘BEAUTIFULL’ . The number of ‘like’ received on it shows that, many too, agree.

 

 

Next, on the way down, we stopped by a hot spring.

OUCH..!

OUCH..!!

OUCH..!!

That is… Not even 15 minutes, we have made to the exit.

On the way down…..

  

  Among the interesting facts, I  captured a restaurant selling ‘Sate Biawak’ (Monitor lizard Satay). Hmmm…. no thank you.

Others are ‘Sate Kelinci’ (Rabbit Satay) and ‘Sate Kambing’ (Mutton Satay)

As we reached the town… I have no more pictures. Sorry to disappoint you, but I was too busy shopping then. So as the others.hehehe………

Day 3……..

It was time to return to Jakarta Airport. We started our journey at 7:30am

It was jammed and I was not in a mood to play with my camera. ZZZzzzzzz……….all the way.

At the airport… also ZZzzzzZZzzzzzzzz……

In the plane… also ZZ…zzz…Z….

Reached home… also ZZzzzZZzzz………. Good nite..