I got FREE ottoman from Macy!

Yaa.. yaa.. This is among the best FREE gift I have ever received for this year! :) Yeayy.. Still remember the entry that I went to Macy before this? If you're not, click Weekend Well Spent to find out more. Just a few days days after my last visit to Macy Home Furnishing's store at Ikano I noticed a very interesting status at Macy's Facebook page. They encouraged us to let them know our wish list at Macy. Without hesitating much, I respond to that status mentioning the ever long-awaited storage ottoman.

To my surprise, Macy's rep replied it with thanks and asked me to drop them an email regarding my wish list. I emailed them immediately and within seconds I get a reply informing that I'll be getting the Gibson storage ottoman for FREE as a compliment for being the first fan to reply the said status! I was like.. jumping joyfully at that instant! :) Alhamdulillah.. Without more ado I 'cc' copied the emailings to beloved husband and he was delighted to read the happy mails.. ;)

I went to pick up the ottoman with my mom about 2 weeks after that (since dear husband is still at offshore). The Macy's rep asked me to come over their main store at Seri Kembangan but I requested it to be shifted to Ikano. Much nearer to my house. At first the friendly Macy guy brought us the plain beige ottoman. Having a little boy I'm afraid it will stains all over in just a few months! So I asked the humble men can we choose on our own? With a smiling face he said yes! Hehe.. Suke sangat. Around 10mins jugak me and my mum tried to decide which one to take home. Nasib baik abang Macy tu cool je :)

Finally we had chosen this one! It suits the theme color of our living area. Err.. well I do think so :D The main purpose of this storage ottoman is to keep Faheem's toys. Dear Macy, we thank you so much and looking forward to get a new settee at your store in a few months to come! (I'm so attracted with Lionel and Townsend. 50% off plsss??! Heeehe..) Muchos gracias again! :)

My new hobby!

Well well.. I have a new hobby now. Pls pls put away the stamp album! (Gee.. I used to collect stamps and I think my husband doesn't know any head or tail about that). Haha. Such a cute story down the memory lane.. I started collecting stamps when my dad shifted from a school teacher to a 9-5 officer at Ministry of Education. I saw plenty of fine-looking stamps on each of the letters that he received. I told abah that I'm fond of that tiny beautiful and colorful stamps and abah simply keeps the stamps for me since then.

Abah travels a lot too those day, so I get my stamps collection growing more and more quite fast :) Oh ya, I managed to get few precious stamps from the days before the independence years through my late grandmother at kampung too. (Al-fatihah untuk nenek kesayangan kami, Hajjah Wan Kalsum Binti Chik). During weekends pulak abah dearie will help me peeling off the stamps from the envelopes using the steam of the boiling water. Owh.. I think I really miss my childhood years now. And I miss abah too! :(

Enough with the excessive intro. Being a new mother to a 7 months plus boy, I've gained a new hobby now which is preparing Faheem's food! I'm not that keen into cooking before I get married tho my mum cooks almost every meal each days. Well I have an older sis that can cook like anything just like my mom (she's the oldest! she should know everything in the kitchen right? haha) and a younger sis that loves to EAT and MUNCH and anything similar. So she simply cooks too. Being in the middle? I just eat anything that these lovely girls prepared for the family.

But every thing started to change when I get married. My husband wants me to cook as much as possible during weekends and considerably during weekdays (as he understands that his wife is a working lady). He told me that very first rule from a HUSBAND on our first weekend just when we're done with all the receptions and honeymoons. Oh dear.. Sayang kan suami, saya iyo kan sajo. Kikiki.. Lucky me, Mr husband just knows how to appreciate whenever I cook and that makes me feels so excited doing things in the kitchen. He makes jokes, he cleans the whole house, he gets Faheem entertained, he hugs, he kisses so on and so on. Oh he gets the kitchen cabinet fixed before Faheem was delivered too. Thank you sayang! That's how I started to love cooking :)

But this time it's not siakap tiga rasa or masak lemak kacang panjang. It's Faheem's food. Hehe. When Faheem started solid last month, I gave him Cerelec to start with since it's the simplest food. And he likes it, good boy! And now, on his 2nd month of having solid, I think I should give him self made rice porridge. More nutrients and it's fresh. Tambah-tambah lagi, I prepared it by myself. Air tangan mak kan.. :) First and foremost, I need a suitable blender or grinder. I already have a free Philips blender that I get when attending Philips seminar last year. Been using it to make chili boh, bawang boh, lada hitam and so on. I know it's not smelly or what, but still I insist on a new blender. We always get extra excited for the FIRST baby right! Ngeee..

I went to my favorite baby store just near the house to get the Philips Avent mini blender and feeding set. To cut a long story short, I tak jadi beli! Why? because I get so annoyed with the salesgirl! Dah la muka masam mencuka, duk sibuk sikat rambut n pkai lipstick je kat kaunter tu. And she talks to me as if I'm the biggest burden she has in the whole universe! My patience comes to the limit when she had torn the user manual (tho accidentally). It will never happen in the first place, if she gets the things done properly! Geram gile hoke, I just get out from the store like a free bird and said, "Tak jadi beli lah!" Uurghh.. Geramnye bile teringat balik kisah ni. Huhu. Fortunately, I found another Philips mini blender at Carrefour the next day. It has everything similar to Avent's except it doesn't provides you the fork and spoon plus the storage which is, I already have all that. And the best part is, I saved rm50! :)

Currently, Faheem is having blended porridge of salmon, broccoli, carrot and potato twice a day. So far alhamdulillah.. He never refuse it. My boy weighs 8.3kg at 7months 2weeks! Weehuu.. Chubby mommy's boy! But I'm bit disappointed with the salmon actually. I went to the Cold Storage just near the house but salmon was to no avail. Went to Jusco and found few slices but it's not that fresh. The fresh salmon would be near to red-orangish in color. Living in KL, where can you find fresh salmon right? *trying to ease myself here. Huhu. Takpela. Janji salmon jugak and it's not that bad after all. There are few types of salmon; the Atlantic, the Pacific. The one that I found is the Trout ones.

Protein just gets in the menu and next is the vitamins and fiber. I choose organic broccoli , potato and organic carrot (mama papa tak makan organic food pun, tapi untuk anak.. pergh.. organic pun organic laa.. hoho). I remember reading my hubby's Men's Health that said the darker the flower heads of the broccoli, the better it is.

This periuk is one of the cookware sets that I get as the wedding gifts. Well we get 3 box of cookware sets actually! To whom it may concern, we owe you very much! You never know how much it helps us all this while :) The one which is in the picture is the smallest in the box and it's so cute isn't it! I never use that one before this. It's great to fully utilized all the things that you get for FREE :D

When the porridge is done, I get it finely blended and keep in two portions, of lunch and dinner. I used a ceramic bowl since it's easier to reheat the next day and yeah, it's safe. Actually there are 2 smaller wet & dry mill beakers (as u can see in the picture) complete with the plastic covers and it fits my Little Bean's warmer too. But Faheem's nanny was wondering, is the plastic of the beakers is BPA free? Malas nak fikir panjang, I letak dalam ceramic bowl aje. Langsung hilang was was :D Wrapped them with plastic cover and get them in the fridge! Phew..

Tamat sudah cerita hobi baru ku..
Papa Faheem tak jadi balik week end ni.
His well buat hal lagi. Keluarlah cepat wahai minyak dan gas..

Kasih Ibu Hingga Ke Syurga

I received a YM message from my dearly-loved mother yesterday that said:

Pagi tadi mama buat kelas tafsir dan majlis yassin di rumah untuk arwah chek, ki, tokki dan tok serta pohon keselamatan dan kejayaan anak-anak baik dalam pelajaran dan kerjaya masing-masing. Alhamdulillah.. Lebih kurang 50 orang datang. Syukur. Makan nasi kuning, mee tomyam, ba'iek, kuih gulung inti kelapa dan oren sunkist manis pencuci mulut. Seronok anak-anakku bila hidup kita disukai..

This heartwarming text gets in my phone just when lil Faheem's done with his dinner. My heart just smiled.. Thank you so much mama. We really appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts. Well that's my mum. An over protective mother that tends to be over concerned whenever her children are in some kind of troubles whether with careers, studies or even personnel matters.

Mama akan capat-cepat buat sembahyang malam/hajat dan pohon kepada yang maha Esa segala yang terbaik untuk anaknya. Dan bila ada kesempatan, she'll set up a get together with her bunch of beloved friends (gee.. she really has A LOT of good friends! That's what most pensioners do right? Socializing sambil beramal, heee..) and started hosting the same routine as kelas tafsir, qiamullail and solat hajat. Group prayers are more blessed! Literally..

Sayangilah dan berbaktilah kepada ibu-ibu anda selagi mereka masih hidup! Tetibe teringat pulak hadis-hadis nabi ni (as stated below) yang selalu kita dengar sejak kecil sampaila sekarang (dan seterusnye sampai bila-bila insyaAllah..)

1. The Prophet Muhammad said, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him: Your Heaven lies under the feet of your mother (Ahmad, Nasai).

credit: soundvision.com

2. A man came to the Prophet and said, ‘O Messenger of God! Who among the people is the most worthy of my good companionship? The Prophet said: Your mother. The man said, ‘Then who?' The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man further asked, ‘Then who?' The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man asked again, ‘Then who?' The Prophet said: Then your father (Bukhari, Muslim).
credit: soundvision.com

**My dear hubby keeps on reminding me to quote only Hadis Sahih/Hasan and not Hadis Dhaif. Ok, this time it's hadis sahih sayang, with the periwayatnye! :)

Of Forte, City, Cruze and Mr. Soulmate.

Hi peeps. This entry is the continuation of the one before this. Done with the yummy ice cream and chit chat-ing with dear husband, we went sneak peek the Kia Forte at the center court of The Curve. Well, this the the 2nd time we have came across their roadshows. The first time was last month at Wangsa Walk Mall.

Actually we have booked Honda City but had always take a second thought of Forte. It biggest advantages that bother us night and day are its' size and price. Well we decided to book City before this simply because of its' V-Tech and most importantly the 3S - Service, Sales, Spare parts. Plus, being Malaysians we always opt for that H & T right. Whilst me? I really love the interior especially the oh-so-nice water repellent seats. Susu faheem tumpah? No need to panic mama! Ngeee.. :p

Credit: asia.vtech.net

However City is rather small in size (only that the trunk capacity is bigger by 4L). Plus, it costs us 91k for a 1.5L that is equals my current Swift. Err.. Pricey and not value for money? There's also a difference of 10k between them! (City & Forte). If we were to invest it through Public Mutual or even ASB or what so ever it is, you know how much it may benefits us? Hmm.. We once opt for Civic but it cost us sky high! How would our monthly savings be by then? More over the current Civic has been like plus minus 4 years in the market and most probably will launch it's latest model by next year. You don't want to purchase an out dated model do you? So civic is a NO.

In order to please ourselves with that toughest decision making of the year, we make an appointment with the SA for a Forte test drive in the next day. And my first impression? Wow.. Forte is one big canggih machine lah. The features they have? Superb I may say. It has most of the features of that 100k-above-cars had such as the push start button, the smart key, the full automatic AC/heater and something with the rear mirror. Auto dimming if I'm not mistaken? I forgot what they call it but it helps a lot during night cruising. My husband drove it first then he asked me to drive since I'll be driving it more (he's out of KL most of the time). I drove all along Taman Tasik Titiwangsa back to the Kia Showroom.

The handling was smooth but the pick-up was not as good as City I have to say. The biggest drawback in Forte is the seat (mind you this comment is sincerely from a lady point of view). It looks very cheap, seriously. Sorry if it sounds too harsh. Huhu.. The audio system also doesn't seems to tune that well. I remember reading somewhere in the net that stated the same downside of Forte. The passenger side dash looks a bit plasticky too. Hukk.. :( To cut a long story short, it's a final now. Forte is a NO.

Credit: Paul Tan

While the decision making is still ding dong ding dong, we came across to the latest Chevrolet Cruze. I was like duhh! Another one just came in the list?? Fine.. As usual, I browsed the net first (especially Paul Tan's) and I think we should take a look at this one.. The price is still in the affordable-range but the OTR price merely exceeds 100k. It fits the price though, as Cruze only comes in 1.8L here in Malaysia. But, do we really need a big car? Big point to ponder now.

The exterior seems convincing and the interior looks classy too. It carries such a continental appearance, since it's under the GM roof. I've asked my boss and few cliques regarding the technical aspects and they gave me quite a good feed backs. So one new thing has been added up to our to-do-list. Shall meet up with the sales advisor soon to know more about the Cruze and test drive it. Over and over again! :/ Owh boy.. In the mean time, I have to get to used with the smaller trunk of Mr. Swift. Aiyoo..

On the next day, dear husband has been flying off to Ho Chi Minh City back again. How time flies.. :( He drove me to the office in the early morning and we had breakfast together at my office's cafe. Then he went home playing with his little men plus doing some housekeeping. Done with that he fetched me at the office once again and off we go to Maxis at KLCC. Well we registered for Maxis Broadband at Low Yat before this just to give it a try. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to receive any signal when we tested it in our house (from the 14th floor to be exact). Currently we are using the Celcom Broadband. Though the signal is always on/off, but it's better than NO signal at all.

We've terminated Wimax before and the same thing goes with Maxis Broadband. My my.. The Celcom broadband will be terminated too. We have decided to get in the good-old Streamyx in action back again. Living in a high rise building, you need cables people. Wireless is not a good option except with the receiver installed in the building. But I shall wait until my husband gets home another time. I malas nk pergi TM Point sesorang.. Let a husband do the thing. Hehe.. After done at Maxis we had lunch at Burger King KLCC, chit chat a bit and I'm off to the office while he's off to the airport. Again and again and again.. =(

Take good care of yourself my dear husband..
Will keep on counting days for you to return home..
Hugs and kisses from abroad!

Weekend Well Spent - Of Macy & Ayam Penyet!

Alhamdulillah.. Syukur ke hadrat Ilahi sebab papa Faheem dapat jugak balik KL last weekend. He has been on the oil rig for 16 days and LUCKILY there's some problem arisen that forced the drilling operation to be halted for a couple of days. Without hesitating much he takes the opportunity to get reunited with the ever-missed family! :) Horeyy! We really miss you papa :) And thank you so much for making the huge effort to come home even though you are really stressed out and exhausted that time. Hugs! :)

I received a call from dear husband just before he gets on the chopper last week. An always-awaited call from someone that is so dear, made from the offshore of Vietnam. His first sentence was "Mama.. Dapat dah.." Alhamdulillah! I'm so pleased to hear that. It feels like all his sacrifices for being apart from the darling family and the hardships he faced as to travel and working abroad plus me running the little family all by my self have been paid off, fairly.. Syukur ya Allah atas nikmat tersebut! Been wondering what it is all about? It's something to do when a company 'appreciates' its' employee.. :)

This entry is mainly of regards things that we managed to do on a very tight 3-days schedule. First and foremost we went to Macy Home Furnishing at Damansara. Just opposite The Curve to be specific, it's in the same building with Ikea. I've been longing to go there for so many times before this. Until one day I get to know from their Facebook page that Macy is handling a sale that weekend. Dear husband pulak ade kat KL, ape lagi! Hehe.. :D

Speaking of furniture I've been dreaming to change our sofa ever since I get married. Haha.. No hard feelings my dear! :D Well currently we're using the out dated Carvenzi L-shape sofa. It really has worn out. Seriously. And talking about the quality? You may tie back to my previous entry regarding the Shoe Cabinet. By the way, the sofa has been used for almost 4 years now. My husband purchased it during his bachelor years. Can you imagine his friends lepaking on the sofa watching football every single day ever since the comfy couch is in the bujang house?? Lucky us the sofa cover is washable and thank you Febreeze! :p

The second thing that I really yearn from Macy is the storage ottoman! The first time I saw it was way months back when we visited our good friend's house at The Saffron, Sentul East. I fell in love with that 2in1 bench at that instant. It's just perfect as a storage for Faheem's toys that are growing more each weeks. Less headaches for Saturday spring cleaning! That's the main purpose :) Oh I almost forgot. I also need one-seat sofa. Been eying for one after I've downloaded quit a number of interior design apps from my iPhone :p But didn't purchase anything as yet. Still haven't found the suitable one plus there's no urgency for that too. I searched around Macy store but none attracts my eyes. Seek at Ikea before and found Ikea STHLM but it's quite pricey. I can get a 3-seater at Macy if we double that numbers. Huhu..

When it's approaching lunch hour we went to have ayam penyet at Waroeng Penyet, The Curve. Quit a few times I've overheard my good friends mentioning about this ayam penyet thingy at The Curve and only now we had the chance to get a taste of it. And the rating? I shall give it 3 out of 5 stars. Huhu.. Me and the babysitter had dishes with ayam while papa Faheem gets his rice with a fish. It's tasty but soooo parched. I almost chocked my self a few times.

There's some sort of sambal and kicap but it's not enough. We're typical Malays who have our rice with dishes yang ada kuah-kuah. Baru la laju sikit kunyah.. Hehehe.. But still the food is nice :) It doesn't has it's own web page yet but you may look up the menus here. As for the drinks we had something goes like es gembira? (it's pink colour btw), cendol and fresh orange. The orange juice was really bad. It tasted so like a cordial! Huhu.. But the rest is ok. Good enough to quench the thirst on a Saturday luncheon.

Faheem was a bit cranky while we were having lunch that day. Well, it's his nap hour.. And we really have to bare with it. I can see dear husband was somehow a little bit stressed out seeing his baby acting like that. Plus he's so hungry and tired some more. Been traveling with chopper, ferry, mini van, taxi and aeroplane in the same day and I simply dragged him for a window shopping in the next day? Sounds like such an inconsiderable wife isn't it? Hihi.. This always happen when you have a weekend husband. Everything just gets in the real tight schedule when he's at home! Believe me.. Hehe :D I love u to bits muchkin! :) But it lasted just a few minutes. We'd speed up the munching session and the three of us had to take turns in order to take Faheem for a walk outside the restaurant while the other one is having her meals. Hehe..

Little Faheem fell asleep just when the last person done with her lunch. How relieved! :D The babysitter went shopping for dresses while me and dear husband take a rest at New Zealand Natural. I had chocolate ecstasy and strawberry surprise ice cream while he's just fine with a mineral water. My husband consumes a lot of water everyday. Seriously. If I were to fill up the 3L jug every morning, it will comes empty just in a few hours! And he's now teaching our son to be just like him. A sportsmen that drinks a lot of plain water :) We discussed about so many things that time. Especially the long-pending issues that arise due to his absence in KL. Oh I really miss this quality hour of me and my other half..

Mr. Man managed to make a few phone calls to his friends just to say hi. Well he's been away from KL quite some times now. He keeps on telling me that he wish to organize a small get together like makan-makan at our house, and invites all his bestest buddies. He did organized once just before he was seconded to Vietnam. And the second time will only takes place when he's back for good end of this year. IsyaAllah..

Before went home, we stopped by a roadshow by Kia Forte at the centre court. I shall update it in the next entry. Faheem needs his mommy now!