I am proud of myself!!

Two months ago, I did posted an entry about my very own green patch. I meant to have updates on this regurlarly, but somehow I just forgot to take pictures so, obviously there won't be any updates without any pics. I suppose, it's just too boring a story without the pictures!

This was taken 3 weeks ago

 However, this morning I wanted to cook something for breakfast. Actually, it was mee goreng and I was short of veggies in the fridge. So, as I had grown a few in my own garden, I thought it was about time I gave it a try.

Tadaaaaaaaaaaa..

As an update, my patch is now quite impressive...heheh sapa lagi nak puji kalau tak diri sendiri? Mak bangga!!

Apart from the few primroses, everything else is growing healthily and errr...very green. Boleh buat bisness nie... hehehe.

 

For today's breakfast, I took some of my Pak Choi from the garden. I chose the biggest one that was ready to be picked. I washed, cut and put it into my mee goreng. My husband doesn't eat Pak Choi or for that matter, any type of leafy vegetables but even he said this one tasted different. It's not bitter as other leafy vegetables. Of course it tastes good. It's 100% Organic hokay.

Today

 Sihat-sihat hokay

Do ignore my ugly kuali!

Anyone out there fancy a taste? You are more than welcome!!!

Gidiyup Tiger???

When I have some free time, I always try to bring my kids to the toy shop, but it doesn't mean we're there to buy anything. We'd just enjoy and try new stuff in store... hahaha...

Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Aparaaaaa..... this is not horsy lah Mummy.... no wonder Husayn doesn't want to ride on it!!!!

Potty Training and tips

A few years ago, before my daughter was first potty trained, people kept telling me how hard busy it was when they had to potty train their kids. You have to be prepared for whatever consequences that might fall upon you. This includes preparing all the extra clothes, cleaning up all the mess, frequently asking your kids whether he/she wants to go to the loo, waking up every single hour at night to make sure he/she won't accidentally wet the bed etc..etc. The list just goes on!

Just listening and reading about it makes me tired. I was so fortunate. Before my daughter reached 3 years old, she asked  me whether or not can she go to the loo and not wear her nappy any longer. Ok, I was so lazy wasn't ready for that so, half-heartedly I said yes and the job began: every hour I had to ask her whether she wanted to go to the loo. I thought she was trained at her playschool but her teacher said not at all. Maybe she'd observed older kids in the playschool and that's why she wanted to do it herself.

A week after that, at night she told me she that didn't want to wear her nappy to bed. So errggh...once again I wasn't ready to wake up every single hour, wake her up and drag her to the toilet, but I did anyway and she made it that night without incident.

So, to cut it short, since then, she was nappy-free and I couldn't be happier. She never had an accident at all except this one time when we went up North to the Giant Causeway where of course there was no toilet and she need to go. Unfortunately, she refused to do it publicly and the accident happened! She had wet pants all the way until we reached the nearest proper toilet.

Anyway, good job Ameera. Mummy's so proud of you.

So, now that Husayn is bigger, I think it's about time to train the boy. I think boys are quite challenging when compared to girls. Once, when Husayn turned 3, I gave it a try. I failed horribly. Every time I brought him to the toilet he would say that it was too hard and it wasn't coming out but the minute he wears his pants again and sits on the carpeted floor, he'd wet himself! After a few times, I gave up.

I had a chat with a few other mums on online forums and there were lots of advice and guides about potty training your kids. Maybe it's just me so I've decided to just wait until the summer (it makes it easier if any accidents happen) and when he is really ready for it.

So, a few days ago, I just thought about it and after breakfast, I gave him a shower, and asked him whether he wanted to try to wee in the potty. He said yes. But after quite a while there was still nothing and I just left him alone in the toilet. Two seconds after I left the toilet he screamed,

Mummy, I did it!!

I kept asking him whether he was sure and I could see the changed colour of water in the potty. Well done Husayn.. and on he went from there, every other two minutes he needed to go to the loo. Well, he actually really needed to go and he did it. Even though later in the evening he accidentally wet himself again, I am still proud of him too because he never did it before but made it through on his first day. Well, there's still a long journey ahead for me but at least it's a good start...

So, the conclusion is, I think even if you are ready, doesn't mean your kids are too. We cannot force he/she because you will be frustrated yourself. Don't be ashamed/feel down when your friends say their kids who are much younger, have been potty trained and your child is still wearing nappies. Different children have different styles.

Tips on preparing for the potty

Teaching your child to use the potty needn't be hard work. But it does require significant preparation for both the child and the parent. Here are some tips on preparing for the potty.

• Make potty training your top priority. Make potty training a top priority on a consistent basis when you have the emotional and physical energy to do it. Even if your child shows signs of potty training readiness, you may not be ready for it as a parent.
• Clear your schedule before training. Select a time to begin the potty training when your family's routine is least likely to be disturbed with house guests, vacations away from home, a move, and so on. Make sure you're not pre-occupied with other major committments such as work, either. Long holiday weekends are ideal to start.
• Choose your words carefully. Decide what words you use to describe body parts, urine, and bowel movements. Avoid using words like "dirty," "naughty," or "stinky" to describe waste products. These negative terms can make your child feel ashamed and self-conscious. Treat urination and bowel movements in a simple, matter-of-fact manner.
• Explain the way things should be. At the start, explain to your child that it's time to put her "wee-wee" and "poo- poo" in the potty. Tell your child that when she/he feels the need to go she should hold it in just long enough to walk to the potty, sit down, and let it go.
• Talk up the advantages. Talk to your child about the advantages of being trained: no more diaper rash, the pleasure of being clean and dry and the good thing you can wear nice colouful knickers/briefs. Discuss training as an important stage of growing up.
• Use dolls or action figures. Sit your child's favorite doll or action figure on a pretend toilet, explaining "the baby is going wee-weein the potty." Put diapers on his favorite stuffed bear. Then graduate the bear to underwear.
• Introduce a book or video. Present books and videos about toilet learning so your child can see other children learning to use the potty. These materials are available online or in your local bookstore. And just as some adults enjoy reading materials while sitting on the toilet, a toddler's favorite books can help the minutes quickly pass. You can find links to mom-tested and recommended potty training books and videos by clicking here.
• Pick a potty day.
Get a calendar and ask your child when she/he wants to begin to learn how to use the potty. Circle the date in a bright color and keep reminding her/him that "potty day" is almost here.
• Check the seat. Watch the tilting toilet seats. Some seats have a tendency to fall quickly when put upright. If the seat tilts or must be supported by hand, change it. The seat must be stay up so it doesn't fall down and strike a boy's penis when his is urinating standing up.
• Squash the roll. If your toddler likes to unroll the toilet paper, try this. Before you put a new roll on the roller, squash the roll so that the cardboard roll inside is no longer round. This way, it will not unroll as fast. Also, little ones who are potty training will not get too much paper per tug on the roll.

Hope this helps and good luck everyone!

It's the DAY!!

Good Morning Ireland and Good day everyone...

OMG, it's 3 weeks away to being exactly 40 weeks pregnant and I was in hospital giving birth to my third son. That was a year ago. It was a normal day and I'd just come back from my friend's house for a small party. As always, during the weekend, I was so busy finishing-up my office work. The work was due first thing on Monday morning as I would need to send it back to the office to my Boss. But that weekend I was just too lazy to do it and still has a bit more to do on it.

That night, I could't sleep and I thought off waking up early in the morning to finish off the work but I just couldn't sleep so, I decided to stay up a bit and get everything done. After, packing all the work into my favourite baby blue and black cheap old Gap backpack I went straight to bed. It was around midnight and Husayn, who has a tendency too talk during his sleep, climbed on my bed and said

Mummy the baby's falling down...

I asked him again, but knowing that he was only sleep-talking, after trying another few times, I gave up. I didn't feel good. Suddenly, I felt like going to the loo. After finishing my business, I tried to sleep again, but at the same time I felt something that can only be described as a mild period pain. As it was in the summer, and Subuh (Fajr) prayer time is early enough, I got ready and did solat. After solay I was praying

If its the time, all I need is a good sign

Having left it to fate, I acted cool again. My husband was sleeping and he needed to go to the office in the morning. So, I just counted the time. It was getting closer and closer. I needed to go to the loo again and this time I think my water broke.

God had answered my prayer. Pretty quickly as well! So, I woke my husband up and asked him to tell my Mom who was in the next room that it was time. Here we go. This time I was fully prepared. Maybe it's because it was my third time. All my stuff and the new baby's stuff was already in the car.

After my husband finished his own prayers, he drove me to the hospital. It was 3 am in the morning, and most of the way the traffic lights were red so naturally, my husband stopped at every single red light. I couldn't take it any longer and said...

Even if I don't scream and act cool, it doesn't mean that I'm not in pain. I don't think the Garda will stop us and fine us once they know my situation.

Right after that, off he went very quickly to the destination. When we got there, he buzzed the hospital door and got a wheelchair for me as at this stage I could barely walk. My water was still flowing. It was just so much this time and I was all wet. As it was in the middle of the night and I was supposed to go for my next clinic visit 2 days later, they took a while to look for my file and I had to wait for a while. Moral of the story; Even if you can cope with the pain just pretend and scream your head off. If not, they will take their own sweet time to check you in the labour ward.

Hokay, after I was settled in the labour room yadaa..yadaa...push...push...After all the drama, about an hour after that, Alhamdulillah a gorgeous baby boy named Muhammad Hisham was borned into this world.

So to birthday boy, a very Happy First Birthday from your beloved Mummy. I love you so much baby forever and ever. Mummy is not good at giving a speech and writing things but you know I'll do anything for you well, for all my kids to see you become a good person who has success in this world (and the next), anak yang beriman dan dilindungi Allah sentiasa. Amin!

So as most of you woulld know, I have 2 other kids that were born in winter time so, since I knew that I was pregnant and my due date would be somewhere in this kind of weather, I was so excited and couldn't wait to celebrate this special day in the sun! Well, we're not going to have a big one, but hopefully if the weather stays like this at least we can fully utilise our nice back garden. I was thinking of doing something sometime next week over the Bank Holiday weekend. Emmm... so lots to plan as I'll be all alone cooking for everyone...Insyaallah.

Oh, and you people are invited...

Quickpitch Pop-Up Tenta: Don't be fooled

Hokay, we went to the beach on Saturday. I've always told my husband that if we were to go to the beach, I needed a pop-up tent for myself. There are lots of alasan good reasons why I need one:-

• I need to change my clothes in it
• I need to change my kids's nappies in it
• Usually, Ireland is too windy so, I need it especially in such sandy place like the beach
• I/My baby needs to sleep in it
• I need to keep myself away from the sun if not, I'll get even darker
• I just want a good excuse to waste my money
• I can use it again and play with my kids in our back garden
• Why not, really???  The list WILL go on if I want it too hehehe...

 Giving my sister a chance to show-off her skills

So, straight after dinner last Friday night, we went to 53 Degrees North, the outdoor  shop where you can can get everythig from cold to hot weather gear. As for pop-up tents, there were a good few different brands on display but for economic reasons, I chose a tent that was cheapest yet was decent enough in terms of quality.

Tadaaaa....

As soon as we got to the beach, the tent was up. It took less than 5 seconds! The tent popedp up nicely by itself. All we needed to do was pin it to the ground so that it won't move (or fly away) that easily.

The instructions

After having lots of fun and an all-round wonderful time at the beach, it was finallly tme to clean up an pack all the stuff we brought along with us, includng the tent. So, with the instruction given, we followed exactly  what was describe on the label. OMG! After  a while of trying, some good friendly/intelligent arguments just to show off who can put the tent back in the bag, we finally managed to solve the problem. Ok. My husband and I/Everyone claimed that he/she did it. But honestly it's not as easy as it looks on the instructions. You need 2 people to do it, with the instructions and a bit of your own imagination for sure. I won't be able to do it without my  husband's help. He too would be lost without me. As the Wonder Pets song goes...

What's going to work??? Team Work!!!

I think I want to go back to the shop and ask for a refund. It's either that or they'll have to demonstrate to me the easiest way to wrap this thing back into its bag. The following day, my kids wanted to camp in our back garden and it happend again.

At last...phew..

We need a good half and hour or more to just try to close it back to the bag's shape. Yup, it's so true it's a quick pitch pop-up tent but maybe we should have looked for the Easy pack back again pop up tent!

My sister trying hard to close the tent....and yet failed

Ps: My Baby boy is going to be ONE year old tomorrow!!!  Tick tock tick tock. How time flies....

Everyone's gone to the beach!

 I only listen to the radio when I'm in the car. Last week, the DJ said it was going to be the hottest weekend you can get in Ireland. Up to 28 degrees! So, I told my husbad it would be a nice plan, as everyone in Ireland well at least Dublin will be thinking the same, let's go to the beach!!!

 We were the first ones to arrive..Semangat gitu!

My kids always wanted to go to the beach and play with the sand, swim, have picnics, whatever it is really you can do that's beach-related. So off we wet to Brittas Bay which is a 45-minute to an hour's drive to the south of Wicklow.

Check out this almost Hollywood movie-type pic!

As we knew that it was going to be a nice, sunny day, we knew that everyone will be heading to the same place so my hubby decided to leave the house early in the morning. Hokay, 8 to be exact. Woot...woot... semangat nak berenang.

My hubby and my daughter's activities for the day

To be honest, I'm actually not a beach person. I like to go to the beach but not to swim or play with the water. I just like lying on a mat not too near to the water looking at my kids enjoying God's creation. Well, I just don't like sand sticking on my feet and my body getting wet. Ok I admit I am mengada-ngada  I just don't like it when you get yourself wet at a beach with no proper toilets, places to change your clothes and clean yourself. Errgghhh...it's just too messy. I just don't like it.

Budak kecik nie sgt seronok main, golek-golek dan makan pasir

 We burried Acu Nani in the sand pastu pijak-pijak atas Acu...

So there I was, a typical Malaysian heading for cover inside my pop-up tent, waiting for my kids and my other half to finish enjoying themselves while I just stuffed myself with the food my friend and I brought along.

I stayed at that same spot from the time we arrived until end of the day.. heheh

Back to the beach we went to. It's not like the beaches we have back home in Malaysia with all the facilties and all the artificial stuff around the area. It's just a really nice plain and natural place. You'd be surprise how more enjoyful it'd be without all the modern nonsense around.

 Poor Abang Husayn. He was so keen to build his sand castle, he brought the sea to him. Bucket by bucket!

Bibik of the day!! heheh

Eventually, I surrendered though. Five minutess before we went home I decided to let my feet touch the sea water. As my husband said, I'd been wasting my time if  didn't try it. Errgggh...OKlah... Despite it being very hot and not windy at all, the water was so coldddddddddddddddddd!!!

Just to prove that I was in the water! Xleh pakai sunglasses mcm org lain psl malas pakai contact lenses.. so nampak cam makcik

Video again

One day with Husayn and his brother Hisham

Spongebob has a Dad???

Did you know that SpongeBob has a dad? Well, in fact, he has a whole family!

I watch SpongeBob all the time, but I never actually had the slightest interest about it. I mean, I don't really want to know ALL the characters in the cartoon. As my kids watch it, I just play along and watch it with them.

Until today that is. Specifically, when my 3 year old son asked me to draw SpongeBob and his dad. Oh no, I'm horrible at drawing or doing anything remotely related to art. I could draw a stick man and it would turn out to be the ugliest stick man in the world, ever. So, you can imagine how difficult it was for me to draw SpongeBob and his errr...dad?

But, for my son's sake, I did it anyway. I drew SpongeBob. Even though it wasn't that good, I was quite impressed and pleased with myself. Thinking that Husayn had confused Patrick as SpongeBob's dad, I took the easy way out and drew Patrick. A minute after finishing my masterpiece, he asked me again.

A not-so-happy Husayn as I drew Patrick instead of SpongeBob's Dad

Husayn: Mummy, can you draw SpongeBob's dad. Please.
Mummy: Err... who? SpongeBob's dad? I don't know what you're talking about.
Husayn: Please Mummy draw him.
Mummy: I don't know Husayn. I don't even know that SpongeBob has a dad.
Husayn: He DOES! He's brown. He's brown Mummy. Please Mummy. Draw him.

...and the demands for a brown SpongeBob Daddy (?) went on, at the top of Husayn's voice, for a good while.

It was at this critical moment that a brilliant idea came to mind. I Googled SpongeBob's dad and found this:





He can't read yet, but when I pointed at the screen below he named all of them correctly. My husband who also follows SpongeBob the way I do, didn't even know about BlackJack. I mean, come on! Get with the program?! Hehehe...

Ah well, kids nowadays. Did you guys know about this? Or maybe it's just me...

I heard Hisham scream!!!

Suddenly, I heard Hisham scream...!

Let's take it back a bit. You see, every day instead of walking 6 minutes to the bus stop to drop-off and pick-up Ameera, I choose to pollute the Earth by driving to that particular spot. I admit it, I'm just too lazy to walk. Even though I've been complaining that I'm putting on weight lately, I still refuse to walk to get some much needed exercise.

In the rare event when I do choose to walk, I'll make sure my pocket is full of chocolate and biscuits for the long journey ahead. The reason (or one might say, excuse): it gives me energy!

Anyway, as always while waiting for Ameera, I would just park my car a few meters away from the bus stop. Both my boys would be safe at the back in their own car seats. So I thought. While eating my chocolate and reading anything I could grab in the car, all of a sudden, I heard Hisham scream his head off. I turned around, assuming the worst.


I just couldn't believe my eyes, Husayn was sitting on top of Hisham and squashing my baby boy in his small car seat. Hisham was trying to free himself but really, what more could he do other than scream for help?


I wanted to laugh but at the same time, I was worried that something was going to happen to my poor little baby.



Poor Hisham. Abang Husayn can be such a bully sometimes...

Robin Hood

I had a chat with my sister on YM on Friday. It was 00.45 A.M over there in Malaysia. The last conversation went something like this...

Sister: Ok. So Kak Na ada pesanan terakhir before nak tido ni?

A last request referring to the fact that she will be leaving Malaysia for Dublin tomorrow, early in the morning.

Me: Yup. SMS bila dah check-in esok errr...and on Sunday, tolong jaga budak-budak. Kak Na nak keluar ngan Abang Harith.
Sister: What? Wah! Belum
sampai Dublin lagi dah bagi tugas?
Me: Heheheh....

Yes, even before my sister had arrived, I already had some baby-sitting duties assigned to her.

So, my sister arrived safe and sound although she wasn't feeling that well on arrival. Maybe it's because of the change in the weather. I was so lucky because somehow I specifically asked her to get the morning flight from Malaysia. The flight would arrive later in the evening on the same day, Dublin time. If not, my sister would have been stuck in Heathrow for God knows how long with all my food and everything else from Malaysia. Plus, she'd have nowhere to go and would have been all alone. Obviously, this air traffic chaos is due to the Volcanic ash-cloud thing hanging aorund Europe. Phew...

Anyway, early Sunday morning, I asked her again if she was OK to stay wth the kids. Well, as I've often written here, nowadays I never get a chance to have our "us" time alone without the kids unless there was someone at home to mind the kids (which is close to impossible especially with my sister).

OK, I lied...heheh of course she would have said yes. Everyone says that I'm a 'Kakak Yang Garang'. I'm a big sister that rules with an iron fist! but the truth is, my sister and brothers are very understanding...heheh...

They know I hardly request my 'me time' for myself unless it's very important or only once in a blue moon. I lap you all.

My husband read a few reviews about the new Robin Hood movie that's just come out at the cinemas. He said it had very good reviews and everyone recommended it. As he knows I like Russell Crowe (especially in Gladiator a lot) he said I would like this movie too. Bear in mind, I don't really like Russell Crowe, I just liked him in that particular movie.

Because my husband felt that the Crowe's role in Robin Hood is roughly similar to the one in Gladiator, he said that he would love to bring me to watch it. Why not? In these harsh times, we don't normally have any nice things to do for ourselves. So, even something like a low-cost movie-date-thing would definitely make us happy enough.

So, the timing was just very good with my unwell sister at home to mind the kids (I know, I'm a bad sister hehe) I decided to go.

To Mama: Jangan marah, of course kalau dia sakit sangat takkanlah Nana nak tinggalkan dia dengan budak-budak.


We went for the first morning show. The last time I was in the cinema was to watch Avatar and now we're here again. I didn't realise they only give cheap small paper receipt as tickets these days. I remember when I used to watch movies and was given the movie passes. They used to give small but proper tickets which the usher will take and tear the other part off it. I would keep the other part. Maybe it's just me, I never knew everything's changed since those days. It has been so long!

Anyway, like I've said a couple of times, I'm not very good at reviewing stories. So I wouldn't do that because my husband always said that I'd end up re-telling the whole story again and spoil the ending. OK, I promise not to do that but overall, I like the movie. It's very good indeed. Russell Crowe just acted the same like he did in Gladiator but this time he wasn't really the General of an army. Ok. I surrender. I will end up telling the whole story! You guys should watch it yourself.

Oh yeah, thank you ye Acu Nanie. Jasa mu Di Kenang.

Acu is in Town!

My kids had been counting the days ever since they knew that my sister was coming to Ireland for a short break. Especially Ameera. She even made her own countdown calendar, crossing the dates out as the days went by. She wrote a story about Acu's upcoming visit and and just couldn't stop asking when it would be the 15th of May.

Thanks to my big brother for getting us Acu's plane tickets. It could be her last free ticket as she is going to finish her final year in college soon. As some of you might know, when a sibling finishes their studies, they lose the privillege of getting free staff tickets from MAS (where my big brother works). This is of course, not a good piece news to me too as I lose out on getting my almost annual help from my siblings when they're on holidays.

As for now, Ameera has already planned things to do to keep her Auntie busy for the whole month. What a relief! It just means Mummy here will get some extra time to rest...hehehe.

WELCOME BACK ACU NANIE!
IT'S GREAT TO HAVE YOU HERE...


...and...

Oh yeah, along with Acu came a dozen or so maple & sugar glazed doughnuts all the way from London!

Ameera and The Student of the Month

I know I should have posted this earlier, but somehow I just forgot about it. Not that it's not important. I just keep forgetting to take a picture about it.

Every last Friday of the month, Ameera's school will have a small assembly where students from one class will perform a mini show. This also the time where the teachers will give out a certificate for each class' selected Student of the Month.

Ever since Junior Infants, I can say that Ameera has been quite the darling of her teachers. Maybe because there aren't that many students in the school so, all the teachers know Ameera. Maybe, being one of few Malay girls, she's easily recognisable to all the teachers or maybe she's just so friendly. I can't say for sure.

Even though we were a bit late to register her for the school, as soon as she started, everyone knew her. More amazingly, after only a few weeks in school, she received her first Student of the Month award!

That wasn't the end of it though. Because of her enthusiasm for school, for that year alone, she was awarded three Student of the Month certificates.

The following year, in Senior Infants, with a huge turnover of teachers at the school along with the lost of Ameera's favourite teacher, she began to lose interest in school. I was a bit upset with the school's management but was still hoping for the best. It's really hard in Ireland because you want to get the best school for your kids but you can't really choose the school you want for them. Even if you had the money, it's still difficult.

As for me, I chose to get a balance of academic and religion for my daughter. With this in mind, we didn't have much choice but to go with the North Dublin Muslim National School. The school is far from being perfect but at least, she gets a good solid grounding.

So, to bring it back to my initial story, Ameera is now in First Class at the school. She missed almost a month of school at the start of the first term as we were back in Malaysia for holidays. Fortunately, with her teacher's help, she's managed to catch-up with the school's syllabus. Continuing on the trend in the previous year, the school has a new Principal.

The new Principal re-introduced the Student of the Month award (which went missing in Ameera's Senior Infants year) and introduced a few other awards too. I have to say, credit to the new Principal as the school has progressed much better than ever.

After two terms of the school year unfortunately, Ameera still hadn't received any sort of award during assembly. I know she is very talkative in class so, it could probably be the main reason. Her teacher this year is very strict. She was a bit upset but she knows that she has to do better next time. Or, at least, be less talkative when the teacher is talking!

On the last Friday of April (which was about two weeks ago now), when I picked her up at the bus stop, she walked towards the car as usual but, she just couldn't stop smiling. When she got to the car, she just blurted it out

Mummy, guess what?!

I got to be Student of the Month today, in assembly!!!

You can just imagine how excited and happy she was. She just couldn't stop telling me all the things she did that month and why she thought she deserved the award.

Mummy's so proud of you baby. I know you're the best and will always feel that way. Love you so much!

I know it's just a certificate, but being Ameera, it does mean a lot to her and made her day. No. It made her whole school year. Oh, and she loves the school so much. Apart from the period we went home she never missed school anymore. She's on a roll now so, here she goes again, she's even received a certificate for Perfect Attendance for the second term.

At last... here comes the Baldy!!!

Oh, and I don't mean my husband. Hehehe...

As the recession goes on, my husband's monthly routine to the barber shop has changed to going to Mummy Nana the barber instead! After doing my husband's hair, we decided to shave off Husayn's so-called girly hairdo. Well, he's actually been pestering me to cut his hair for a while now so he patiently waited in front of the bathroom for his turn.

To be honest, both my husband and I are very fond of his long, soft and messy hair, but as usual, during the summer we'll chop a bit of it off. This time though, I think we went a bit too far, I guess...

Husayn always says that he doesn't like to be called a girl and for the past few days he's insisted on wearing a hat everytime he goes out so that nobody mistakes him for a girl. It doesn't solve the problem entirely so, to be extra sure, he keeps telling everyone he meets the reason he wears a hat, even if people don't ask him why he is wearing one in the first place!

So, this is what happened...

Just fresh from the barber!

Later, he feels bit strange/sad because he feels different,

Mummy, can I have my hair back!!!

My hair is spiky! Like Daddy's cheeks...

Do I look Handsome??

Dear Auntie Adah,

Do I look like a BOY and am I handsome now?
I put some gel and got Mummy to comb my hair like a macho man?
Hehehe...

Avatar: The copy-cat

Living in Ireland is totally different from where I came from. 10 years ago when I first arrived here, I was really surprised to find that shops closed at 6 in the evening, it's four-season country but it rains ALL the time (including in summer), you can't dine out late at night if you are hungry and there's nothing much to do if you don't have your own transportation.

So the only thing I did back then to entertain myself during my free time was go to the nearest cinema to watch movies.


Sometimes, I'd have a movie marathon and stayed in the cinema for the whole day and watched anything available with my monthly pass. Well, that was long time ago now, before I had my first baby.

Since then, I can't even recall when was the last time I visited a cinema, until recently. Well, even that's been quite a while. My last visit being when Avatar came out at our local cinema. My husband decided to go and begged me to come along and asked me to find someone to look after the kids. It was like a date for us after a really long time.


To cut it short, I agreed. He was so excited he even bought tickets for the movie online, a whole month before the release. It was a 3D movie and I was like so jakun as it was my first time. When they handed the 3D glasses I was so excited - like a kid getting a present. I totally forgot about the 3D thing at first and forgot to put on my contact lenses so, you can imagine how stupid I looked wearing the nerdy 3D glasses on top of my normal one! Haha...you can laugh, it's OK.

Anyway, apart from the movie being quite long, I thought it was awsome. The picture was so good - colourful and with the 3D experience thrown in, it felt so real. The story itself was a bit boring but I can still give it one thumb up. Honestly, I am not that good at reviewing movies as my husband always reminds me that instead of giving a summary of a story, I always end up re-telling the WHOLE story.

So, forget about a review here. A few months had past after we watched the movie. Since then, my husband and I have been catching up on a lot movies from around 2007 and 2009. The exact time-frame when we were so busy. What I discovered to my surprise was that Avatar movie is a totally un-original movie. To me, the movie was made and created by putting together pieces from a few different movies, all of which I've watched at this stage.


To name a few, there's Delgo, Terra, and Appleseed ex Machina. It's true, it was a combination of all that 3 movies or maybe more that I don't know and haven't watched yet. My husband tells me the ending (with the "tree of life" and all) is from a Japanese manga movie called Princess Mononoke).

For example, the animals that they ride on Avatar is almost the same as the ones in Delgo. The big robots used by the humans to fight in Avatar are largely the same as the one in Appleseed. And, the whole story line from Avatar is more or less the same as Terra but honestly, I think Terra make more sense than Avatar.

Seriously, you guys should start to watch the movies I mentioned. And you might get an idea of what I'm talking about.

For now, I'm 100% dissapointed with whoever created Avatar for copying all the ideas off other movies. James Cameron and his friends should have done better and shame on him for getting all the awards!!! Although, who am I to judge...Hehehe...OK

Auntie Nana's Pretzels

Ever since Auntie Anne's Pretzels came to town I was one of the first customers who welcomed them and joined in the queue to get a taste the first freshly baked batch of pretzels in Dublin. I liked it but strangely enough, was never a fan of it back home in Malaysia. But, since they opened here, I can say that at least almost every week I will go and get a bite of pretzels. Until one fine day that is. The story goes like this.

A friend of mine was on the way to my house and called me asking what flavour pretzel I liked as she was feeling generous and wanted to get some for all of us at home. So, after telling her that cinnamon sugar is my all-time favourite, she said

OK! See you in 10 minutes...

I just couldn't wait for my friend to arrive and was almost drooling for the pretzels. Our doorbell rang and excitedly, I opened the door.

I'm sorry babe, but I didn't buy any for you.

I was so dissapointed (although I kept a smile on my face). To be fair, she bought as replacements, all kinds of sweet pastries from Marks & Spencer. After having a good go at the pastries, she started to explain why she didn't get the pretzels...

As usual, there was a queue for the pretzels but by the time it got to her turn, she had to wait for another five minutes as they had run out and had to put a new batch into the oven. As soon as the pretzels came out, the girl working in the kiosk started to glaze all of the pretzels.

Nothing out of the ordinary there but guess what? It looked like the Auntie Anne's employee had been using the same brush to glaze the savoury sausage pretzels as well as all the other sweet pretzels!

Well, I know it might not be a big deal for other people but for us Muslims, it's a very BIG deal and quite complicated to explain. To cut it short, it's as bad as offering a vegetarian a 12 oz. beef steak.

So, my friend asked me again. Would I buy the pretzels from Auntie Anne's if I had seen what she had seen?

Mmmmm...I was still dissapointed but I knew what she did was right. Oh well, that's the end of Auntie Anne's for me. Well, at least it'll save me money on this not-so-healthy bread.

After a about a week or so, I just couldn't stop thinking about it. My friend did tell me that Auntie Anne's has this DIY pretzel kit so that you can make pretzels yourself at home but I was just not into it. Spending €10 for the kit but still having to do it from scratch? Not for me.

So, I Googled pretzels and found this nice Soft Pretzel recipe.


The results were so fantastic. It's really easy to make and I bet you can save a lot of money by making them yourself. To top it off, it's delicious too and just as good as Auntie Anne's but with the added bonus that these pretzels are home-made by Mummy Nana!!!