A Birthday I Won't Forget :)

It's my birthday today and I received the best gift I could ever get.

Today, around the same time I was born 34 years ago, I saw my Little Bean's arms and legs for the first time. The Little Bean was moving and squirming, probably wondering where he/she is, 'cos the Little Bean was, according to the Good Doctor, scratching its little head quite a bit.

I am now 10 1/2 weeks' pregnant, my first pregnancy after nearly 8 years of marriage. So far the pregnancy has been good. I haven't thrown up at all, having very mild morning sickness, and only having short bouts of nausea.

I have a feeling my Little Bean will actually not be so little, judging from the amount of unhealthy food I've been shovelling into my mouth for the past few weeks. The closest thing I've had to vegetables are mashed/baked/fried potatoes and coleslaw (eek!). One good thing is that I eat less food in each serving, but I need more servings than usual, so this kinda negates the first statement.

I've been feeling rather lethargic, which I think is both caused by the pregnancy as well as the terrible hot weather we've been having lately, and have been denied exercise by the Good Doctor, so I feel like a beached whale most of the time. Heh.

I'll be seeing the Little Bean in 1 1/2 weeks' time, and I seriously can't wait. That week, the Good Doctor says that we can probably see the nose and some other features. In that time, I'll be at the end of the 1st trimester, and can finally share news about the Little Bean with the whole world.

Little Bean, Alhamdulillah you're finally in me. I can't wait to see you again, even if it's only through wavy monochrome lines.

Stay safe in there, Little Bean. Mommy will see you again soon :)

Anyone missed me? :p

Sorry haven't been blogging for so long.. My excuse? No ideas. I used to think I was a writer when I was a kid, and I've written my fair share of poems, stories, essays, scripts and etc. during my schooldays. Unfortunately, this is not a hobby I've pursued since, and apart from this blog, the only things I've written lately are shopping lists and travel itineraries, which can hardly be called literary works :)

Also, I've been quite preoccupied with work, home and most important of all, some things (actually, mostly One) on my hopelutions list, and I must tell you it hasn't been easy.

While I envy those who do not have to go through what I have to, I am happy that they are blessed the way they are, and I wish no one else has to go through it as well, although God has reasons for why some things are the way they are. Am I being too cryptic? If you know me, you'll know what I mean. I'll probably start another blog on this topic if I can find the time (and if I can remember what happened!)

I just want to say thank you to my dearest, dearest fella, for loving me enough to go through this with me without complaint, but with ultimate sweetness and devotion; my wonderful parents, who are living proof that love for (at times difficult!) offspring has no bounds, and are willing to go on this journey with fella & I; my siblings (in-laws included) and their families, who have been pillars of support and love; and my lovely friends who have helped keep me in their thoughts.

I hope this is the beginning of a new journey for fella & I.. and I hope my next entry will not be so cryptic and have the news I've been hoping for! :)

See ya!

The New Year Hath Cometh

Happy New Year everyone! I have decided to do away with resolutions this year, 'cos I have never (not once!) managed to list down resolutions, let alone attempt to do any in my entire lifetime.

However, I have decided to come up with "hopelutions" or "wisholutions" which are things I hope/wish to do this year:

ONE: I hope this will be the year of little feet running (or crawling/kicking-whichever is applicable) in my house and life. And no, this does not include my dear Kengkang cat on his visits from my parents' house, or my little nieces & nephews running through the house. And little one, if you do come this year, I promise to not show you all the bills and receipts on trying to have you, unless you misbehave. Oh. And I also promise to love you forever, no matter what.

TWO: I hope that our business will continue to flourish, and we're finally able to expand and diversify like we've always dreamed of doing. I also hope to embark on new business ventures, especially with mom & sis and hope that that business will also do well. To my computer, although you're not a Mac, I hope to love you anyway, and in turn hope that you will always be sufficiently protected from viruses. And if you do succumb to that virus, I hope I will be of sound mind enough not to throw you across the room or beat you senseless with a tyre wrench. Well, at least, not until I backup all my important files.

THREE: I hope that my friends still want to be my friends, 'cos I've seriously neglected so many last year. Not by choice, though, but still.. when the only way you know what's going on in your friends' life is via stalker central aka FB, something needs to be done. I hope I'll be able to catch up with my friends more, and gossip and share like we used to before spouses and bills came between us. To my dear, close friends, I'm so sorry for not being there when you needed me last year, and for not being part of your lives, even though you guys were there for me for everything. I hope this will change this year. Just bear with me, and I hope we haven't grown too far apart for this to happen.

FOUR: I hope to cook more adventurous dishes this year. And hopefully eat balanced meals so I can at least just maintain how I look now.

FIVE: To my fella, I hope to be a better wife, partner, getaway driver and person to you. And I hope to do laundry more often so we're never short of er..underthings. And I hope our dreams will come true this year (re: items ONE & TWO) and hope that our relationship and love will grow stronger as we grow older (although I'm eternally 26 years old, if anyone asks!)

SIX: To my family (in-laws included!), I hope to be a better daughter, sister and person to all of you.

SEVEN: To my house, I hope to take care of you much better. I will strive to dust and mop you more, and occasionally do the windows. To my hob, hood and kitchen cabinets, I hope to take care of you more, and wipe you down after every mess. To my lawn, you will be loved. I shall strive not to allow weeds to start dwelling. To our newly Bonuslink-points-redeemed B&D grasscutter, I shall make good use of you more. No more will you reside in that pristine new box.

EIGHT: To my nieces and nephews (current and future), I hope to have more food in the kitchen and fridge for you, and more toys for you to play with when you're in my house. I hope to be able to bring you out more and be a fun Aunt. Although if I don't, you're welcome to my house anytime.

NINE: To my neighbours and security guards, I hope you understand that my fella and I at times either don't leave the house all day, or go out and come back only in the wee hours of the morning. Please understand that this is all business related and we hope to come to and join in any neighbourhood activities if our schedules permit.

TEN: To myself, I hope I'll make me even more proud of myself this year. I hope to attempt to do all of the above and be a better person overall. I hope to be able to travel more and do more for the community. And I hope to do all these with better hair, skin, teeth & clothes.

Have a good 2009 people!

Cheese!

I love cheese. If you want to be my friend, get me cheese. Any type of cheese is fine, except for the extra smelly ones.

I read with uncontainable excitement in Tun M's blog that there is now a mozzarella cheese-making factory in Langkawi. Efforts to google this wondrous place came up empty and now I am obsessed with finding out where this factory is.

I am also now interested in making my own cheese (though I'm sure this will go away very soon), although at the current prices, I think buying one gallon of milk to make cheese will be costlier than buying a block of cheese.

If it were up to me, I'd put cheese in every dish, but I don't want to be responsible for the bouts of food poisoning which may probably happen.

So.. I end this now so I can dream of cheese.

(Pic courtesy of stockphotography.com)

Fella's Birthday Dinner

I didn't make a cake for my fella's birthday. One, I didn't have time. Two, since moving to our own place, I didn't have time to buy bakeware (used to pau all Mom's bakeware + oven when we were living at my parents!). Three, I only have a teeny round electric oven which I got by redeeming Bonuslink points.

So anyway.. I just made him dinner. The menu was: fresh onion soup (with invisible cheese toast), steak with creamy turmeric sauce with creamy potato salad and banoffee pie for dessert. The reason the cheese toast was invisible was because I didn't have time to make it because we were trying to catch The Amazing Race Asia at 9 pm (So romantic, kan?). In the end we managed to miss TARA, but made it for 24, so all was not lost :)

Anyway... I forced the birthday boy to take photos of only the main course, so enjoy!

My Fella :)

Today is my hubby's birthday. We've known each other for about 10 years, and been married to 7 of them.

Yep. Seven years. Unfortunately, we haven't been blessed with any little ones, though that's in my prayers everyday. (But that's a different story). So instead, we've spent these years learning about each other and loving each other either more, or in spite of what we've learnt. Heh.

What I love about my fella is that he gets me. He knows me and he surprises me when I think he hasn't been listening. We think the same things, we finish each other's sentences and we voice each other's thoughts. And though we spend nearly every minute together, there are still things to talk about, and stories to share.

I'm blessed to have my fella in my life. And I hope he feels the same way about me too. (Sidenote: Yang, you'd better!!!)

I love you, yang :)

*Sigh*

I received a comment for my previous post, which questioned my views and basically said I know nothing about politics and whatnot. I choose not to post the comment because I like sunshine and happiness and everything positive in my comments section, but I will address the comment here.

One : I am not a politician, and I don't aspire to be one although I come from a long line of patriots and stalwart UMNO politicians, many of which have served or are still serving our beloved country. I don't profess to know politics, I am not influenced by anyone's views and all my views are just that-they are my views.

Two : What I've written is my personal observation on today's state of affairs. It makes me sad, because among others, race relations and the country's peace and stability have been affected as a result. It bothers me because I love the Malaysia I grew up in, and I want that Malaysia to still be around for the younger generations.

Hopefully in light of recent declarations, the country will go back to how it once was. And to me, for it to do that, we still need the present party to lead us. I still believe the country is in peril if it falls to the opposition, but the future leadership has to be strong enough to convince and prove to us that they are capable.

My only humble advice to those wanting positions in the party, if you're in it only for the position and the glamour, stop it. We want someone who can do the work and embrace the responsibility. People's faith in the party has eroded, so we need someone to strengthen and restore that faith. If you are that person, then by all means, run. If you're not, think hard and see if all that personal gain you're aiming for is worth ruining the party and worse, ultimately the country.

Again, all views and observations are my own. The only motivation behind these types of posts is wanting my Malaysia back.