Should I?

Ok, M bored! I'll admit it! I just opened my study notes (huh? study notes?) and I could only get as far as the 3rd page before I started yawning! LOL!

Yeah! M contemplating whether I should go for my PTK course or not this year! There are 3 assignments (well, ok, actually one, but the other two are public speaking topics which still needs to be prepared if I dn't want to look silly in front of the panel of examiners. You know, with my mouth wide open like a gold fish coz I dn't know what to say? LOL!) to be handed in on the day of the registration for the course. The course starts on 28 November 2005 and runs for 8 days. That's about a month away! Take away the cuti cuti Raya and Deepavali, M left with hardly two weeks to prepare the 3 assignmnets! *sigh* Should I?

There is an exam on the 1st and last day of the course, and I can't even get passed the 3rd page of the 1st (huh? there's more?) reading materials! *sigh*

It's Baking Time!

Yep! It's that time of the year again! LOL! *wink* The raya celebration is hardly more than two weeks away!

I was initially not in the mood to bake any cookies this year. Why? Coz I was more in the mood to make cards! *grin* But U can't eat cards on raya day! LOL!

Another good reason why I should be baking this year is because this year my kitchen is finally equipped with a built-in oven! Yep! Something I have been looking forward 2 having since we moved into our house some 13 years back! Yep! 13 years!

I managed to bake 2 types of cookies, and with d new oven with multi layer trays, baking time sure is fast! It was the preparation that took a long time! *grin* The baking took hardly 30 minutes to complete both types of cookies! It sure was a breeze!

I remember when I was baking using my mum's old oven (remember my earlier posting about the oven that is already more than 25 years old?) and a small portable oven given to me by my hubby as a raya gift when we first moved into our home. It took me hours to bake even a small batch of cookies! The temperature of my mum's old oven is so inconsistent that I ended up having most of my cookies so burnt, that I practically had to throw them away! My portable oven, on the other hand, could only bake so much at a time, that it would sometimes take me all the way right up to buka time before I would be done with baking! LOL!

Anyway, both those two ovens have served me well for 13 years when we still couldn't afford a proper oven. Thanks, mum and hubby, for the ovens! Muuuuaaaaa!

In a square mood....

I wanted to post this early in the week, but, like I said in my last entry, I had problems getting access to my blog.

Over the last weekend, I suddenly got into the mood to do cards, and not just any cards, but square shaped cards! Before this, I have mostly been doing rectagular shaped cards. I think it must be because I got inspired after glancing thru some pages of the Card Making magazine I bought just before the end of the week. Also, Mona was asking for some responses to open up a stall to sell some small craft items. Something we had been talking about for a long time but never got down to doing it. U know, all those excuses about being too buzy with work, family and many other never ending stories? LOL! *wink*

Anyway, here are a few cards I did over the weekend. I hope to do more this coming weekend if everything goes according to plan! Wait for my update next week! Till then, have a great weekend, everyone!

It's been a long week!

Yep! It's been more than a week since I made any entries here! It is all because I couldn't access my blog due to problems I was facing which I had mentioned in my last entry! I am still encountering the problem, but I am doing things a little bit in a roundabout way. Never mind. It's too long to tell! LOL!

I hope everyone is fine and is in the best of health. Since my last entry, a lot has happened. Well, for one thing, yesterday, our first lady, the Prime Minister's wife passed away peacefully at her official residence with all members of her family beside her.

There isn't much I could say about her since I never had the opportunity to meet her during her short tenureship as the first lady and the projects that I am currently involved in does not give me the opportunity to meet her nor the PM himself, unlike the previous PM where I had the opportunity to meet him at least once a year through work.

Anyway, my condolences to the PM and his family on the demise of their beloved wife and mother/daughter. Semoga rohnya sentiasa dicucuri rahmat.

This week feels like a long week for me due to a number of reasons. One, the week is full of meetings back to back from morning to noon. I am not complaining. I love being kept busy, but I got so stressed out that I fell sick on Tuesday! LOL! And that’s reason number two!

Well, actually, my falling sick had also to do with the fact that the air-cond in the office was not functioning properly. Hah! Blame it on the air-cond! LOL! And that’s reason number three! Well, ok this is supposed to be reason number 2 and reason number 2 is supposed to be reason number 3. Did I just confused someone? LOL!

Anyway, the air-cond had been down since Monday due to some mechanical problems. I am not usually this ‘manja’. No air-cond terus demam. But what actually happend is that I had an all day meeting on Tuesday in a stuffy meeting room with no windows. It was actually fine, but, since I was chairing the meeting, I did most of the talking and it being the fasting month, I cudn’t wet my throat. Hmm...aren't the members supposed to be doing the talking and U are just supposed to listen as d chairperson? Oh well.....

Anyway, by the end of the day, I had developed a bad sore throat and a bad headache. That nite I had a temperature of 39 degrees but had to go to work the next day because I had already arranged another project meeting which could no longer be postphoned due to its urgency. Popped in some panadols and went back to bed after sahur, and that kinda did the job. The temperature went down, but my body was aching all over!

However, I did take d afternoon off and went home to sleep, and slept I did! LOL! I slept in the afternoon. Woke up to cook food for breaking fast, and went back to sleep again in the evening! LOL! The doctor told me I fell sick due to dehydration. Didn't I tell U that the air-cond is to blame? LOL! *wink*

Anyway, I am feeling better now though my body is still aching, and the week has not ended yet! LOL! But, thank God it’s Friday! *grin*

I am stumped.....

I simply just can't understand this, and I am getting very frustrated!

For the past two days I have been trying to access my blog and a few of my friends' blog and I kept being redirected to this one single weblog! This is so frustrating! What did this person (owner of that weblog that I kept on being redirected to) do such that I could not access any other weblog except his/hers?

I have tried deleting cookies and also files under the temporary internet files folder, but I still keep getting this one page! Uuurrgghhh!

I wish someone out there could tell me what to do!

I guess there are still lots more (yes! very very much more!) that I need to learn (don't I already know that? *grin*) about this HTML thing and also the world of blogs! *sigh*

So, this is my only entry for today coz M too upset to make any other entries since I am unable to preview my blog before publishing. *sigh*

He misses her.......

This morning, on our way to send our son to my MIL's house, I noticed that my son was just staring out the window with a sad look on his face. He looked sad too yesterday evening on the way back from her (MIL's) house.

I think my son misses the former maid. He is not telling or he does not knw how to express himself yet. He plays games of counting cars,trucks, buses, constructions lorries and what nots with the former maid in d car during journeys to and frm my MIL's house everyday. It brings lots of laughter and giggles as they 'fought' to see who gets the most number of vehicles!

With this new maid, he just looks out the window with a sad look. Even when my hubby and I tried to play the same game with him this morning, he refused. It hurts 2 see him sad....

This is the 3rd change of maid that he has had to endure in his young life. The first time we had a change of maid was when he was slightly a year old. At that time, my MIL's maid was taking care of him and he was closer to her than our own maid since my MIL's maid was the one who took care of him since birth.

She (MIL's maid) went back for a short break of 6 months to her home country. During the first few weeks of her absence, since he has yet to fully understand the reason for her going back, he felt anger and betrayed that someone who he was close to, left him. He threw tantrums almost daily for almost 3 weeks b4 he could finally accept the fact that she is no longer around.

Before this, I never really believed in separation anxiety, until it happened. When we brought him to see the peads, after explaining the symptoms, the 1st question the doctor asked us was whether there had been any major changes in his life.

According to the doctor, in cases like this, the child normally blames the parents or people close to him for the maid going back. He thinks that we have all betrayed him by sending the maid back. We were encouraged by the doctor to explain to him over and over again the reasons for her going back. That is it not us that sent her back, but it is she who wants to go back to see her family. Children can understand when things are explained to them, but we just need to reason out with them and reassure them that we love them very much.

Now that my son is older, I hope that he is more able to accept the departure of the former maid and may this phase past quickly. I have already started talking to him and explaining about her reasons for going back. In fact, I have prepared him for this many weeks ago, but I guess the reality has only sunk in with her departure. He understands, but, I think, he still misses her.

A WIP which seems to be taking me ages to complete! M hoping to get it completed before year's end. Wish me luck!

A bad idea....

huh? What's a bad idea?

Having both maids go back at the same time! That's the bad idea! In fact, a VERY BAD idea! *grin*

Our new maids (my MIL's and mine) finally arrived on Saturday evening together with my SIL's maid (her current maid is also going back at the end of the week). Boy! Aren't our planning and timing bad! And I call myself a good planner? LOL! I must be dreaming! LOL!

Anyway, the maids arrived and we got our first dose of shock! Yep! The maids told us that they came here to work as restaurant helpers! Can U imagine our shock, or shall I say, their shock too? Though I dn't think they look that shock. Maybe they were playing us around?

A call to the local agent straightened things out..well..kind of. We were told by the local agent that it was made perfectly clear to them that they are here in Malaysia to work as domestic help. Their passports clearly stated that. If they had come in to work as anything else other than domestic help, their visas would have been stamped differently.

My maid now says that they had been lied to by the agent in her home country. Hmm..ok..now who's lying here? *sigh* I hope that this is the last lie we hear from them. We are hoping for trustworthy maids whom we can entrust our kids in their care and make them like their own. Well, ok, one of them is not married, but, you get what I mean, right? *grin*

Anyway, here's the story.....

My maid has been here before. She just went back to her home country less than a year ago. She has worked with a socially elderly couple who likes to entertain at home. She knows basic household chores and has experience assisting the former employer in the kitchen. Can she cook? It does not really matter as long as she is willing to learn and can help me with the dishes. I love cooking, so, as long as I have someone to help prepare the ingrediants, I should be ok, God willing.

I spent the weekend training my new maid while attending to my sick son who was coughing non stop and running high fever that seems to be fluctuating throughout the weekend. I thank my hubby who sacrificed going to work that weekend (yep! His boss so much love to have working workshops on weekends!) - I love you, hubby! muaaaah! *grin* Hope I didn't get U into trouble with the boss! - so that he can take care of our son while also giving me moral support, as I try to get my maid and myself adjusted to each other and the new tasks ahead of us (?).

Did I tell U that my maid has never taken care of a child b4? Yep! She's married with a 4 year old child, but her mom has been taking care of the child since birth. In fact, she was a bit apprehensive when she 1st saw my son, and I think d feeling is mutual, since my son looked very nervous when he 1st met her. But, then again, it cud also be that he was not feeling too well.

Back into history, my son and the former maid hit it off even after only a few minutes of meeting each other, which I took as a good sign. It was a good sign, because the former maid, though not good at showing her affections for my son, never fails to buy my son his favourite food each time she goes on her day offs. She plays simple games with him that makes my son laugh.

This new one just stares at my son........get the picture? I hope with time, she will learn to love kids. My son tries to get close to her but I think it's going to take a while for her to warm up to him. I would think it would have been the other way around. But, at least, she looks as if she's trying.

Another crude diamond to polish, though I hope not as much work needed as the last maid, I hope that she will be a good maid and a trustworthy one. At least she is better than the maid my MIL got. I think had I gotten the one my MIL got, I wud hve cried all day!

The important thing is that, she will take good care of my son while we are at work and not give my MIL too much headache.

My MIL has enough headaches already trying to train her own new maid. Did I tell U about my MIL's new maid? Well, she's 38 years old and this is her first trip to Malaysia. When we met her at the airport, she looked very lost and scared. She looked kind of blur too. I think she just went into a culture shock! LOL! *wink*

It seems, according to my MIL, she (the maid) does not knw how to cook and has never done any housework at all. And that's according to d maid herself. Can U believe this?

How can someone at that age has never cooked and never done housework b4, and she's married! How do U live b4 this? M puzzled. I cannot imagine myself not knowing even the basic task of cooking and housework. I think had I been one really lazy wife, I wud still knw how to cook rice and sweep d floor, or at least, knw how to wash my own clothes, even though it might not be that clean! LOL! *wink*

Hmmm..M going to try to imagine being one lazy person to see if I cud go thru one day without eating and wearing dirty clothes all day.....*grin*

What irks me is why agents are very irresponsible to send someone with no basic training at all in household chores. Are they just trying to make fast bucks because training cost time and money?

MY MIL has a big task ahead of her, and we will have to give her all the moral support she needs. Luckily, my MIL is a very patient women. I wish her all d best, and us too, since my MIL's maid is supposed to be the head butler! LOL! Ironic, huh?

I am glad for one thing though. I am glad that at least my SIL's soon to be former maid is still around to pass on some knowledge and help to get the new maids adjusted to the new life, task and routine. I am sure it helps my MIL a lot to be able to get her (the maid) to ease some of the training task. If before this, she (the maid) has not been much help in house (she's the most junior of all the 3 former maids and spends most of her time taking care of only my SIL's youngest child), this week she will be very much appreciated! Even though she will be around for only another week, it helps ease the transition. I am counting my blessings!

Today is the first day that I have sent my son and my new maid to my MIL's house since her arrival. I hope that everything is ok. I hope that God will give us strengh and patience to survive this challenging times.

Today is also the first day I am back in the office after a week of absence ( I was away outstation for work on Tuesday right through Thursday) and came back home to a very sick child late Thurday evening. Took Friday and Monday off to care for him.

The last two weeks went by in a blur of activities and today, I feel very much in a daze and feeling like a zombie! LOL!

We have learnt one MAJOR lesson, and that is never again shall we send back all the maids at the same time!

Thank you to Lillie, June and Cheeze, who have offered me kind words to help me survive this part of my life...........I truly appreciate them. Hugs!