Whistle Thistle

So much for wanting to write a hotel review! Alas, not enough photos. Fail.
I took no photos of the hotel except for the pool and my kids goofing around in the kids playroom! *slaps head*

Anyway, by some stroke of bad luck and silver lining we booked a room for 2 nights at Thistle PD. Didn’t even know they have a Thistle in PD but being an agoda.com web crawler it was our third best option after Avillion and Grand Lexis. We paid about 800 bucks (not sure if that’s a good deal) but I needed a mini holiday with my family so belasah je lah.

Well I’m glad we stayed there because (this is where laziness kicks in and I start writing in pointers):
· Kids-centric hotel with a clown waiting at the lobby! Note to self, Rumi hates clowns. For a zombie-lovin kid, this is kinda weird of him haha
· Massive swimming pool with 3 kiddie pools
· It’s at the Teluk Kemang side, which means we get to avoid the crazy traffic in PD itself
· Good food. We didn’t try the buffet/breakfast but we did order in. The burger and club sandwich are delicious!
· Room is spacious

My only gripe is that the room lighting kinda sucks. It’s too dim! I’m so used to having bedside lamps on both side of the bed.

[I just remembered I need to get myself a bedside table stat]

My husband googled what to eat in PD and we’re glad we didn’t experience anything bad so yay for that. I still dread dining out with the boys but that was compensated with a patient husband who is willing to look after kids while the wife stuff her face with food. Hehe.

Next holiday? Kelik Kelate jom.

If there's one thing to describe the ostrich farm in Port Dickson: sad. Actually, I said "pathetic" on that day. The thing about animal farms and zoos in Malaysia is that you can't help but feel sorry for the animals. At the farm, there was a camel - DYING - the poor thing couldn't even get up! I swear I saw tears. Thank god the boys were not paying attention (because they saw smelly donkeys) but I think I am scarred for life. :(

Thank god for dinosaurs and crazy rabbits to make up for everything. Well, almost.

Hey 36.

4 more years til I hit the big 40. A good reminder to live life to the fullest, within our means. I don't think we need birthdays or New Years to change, as long as we keep in mind to break the bad habits and learn to improve.

Oh fuck it, I still can't sound like a 36 year old no matter how hard I try hehe. So here's to a wonderful life!

Nate, who is fond of side-profile photos.

phew

Think my heart dropped seeing some weird coding on this blog. Turns out my super useless yahoo email sent out few emails of its own including this blog's remote email address. Hoi!

Got my early birthday present today. Syncing it now! I can pass my archaic iPod Touch to Emre and no more fighting over the iPad with Abang! The Mini is all mine mine mine.

Thank you Ayah! Me love you long taim.

hey children.

Am I the only mother who look back at my kids' old photos and laugh at them?

 

Found a photo of Rumi with a cat. Emre does the same now too! Hish. Except Emre goes to the extreme by pulling the cat's tail and dragging it into the elevator because he thinks the cat belong to us. *face palm*

That of course after he's done kissing and wrestling with the (now) traumatized cat. HELLO BUDAK KECIK YOU HAVE SENSITIVE SKIN!

 

But so far so good lah. I let them roll on the ground, jump puddles, hug animals or trees etc. So thankful that they hardly get sick anymore so everything is a-okay.

 

Okay few more hours to go before I head home to see the birthday boy!

Sent from my funky device. Touch the sky!

Imaan Emre is 2

Happy birthday my little man.

read-lah.

I know I keep saying I'm gonna start reading again every single year but looks like this is the year after all! I guess these days I read books that I buy on impulse and I like reading brand new books. Pffth, I know, but hey at least it got me reading again! Then my friend, FA, said that she's gonna lend me 'some' books. Didn't know that 'some' books means 3 bags of books! So my reading supply is all set for the rest of the year.

How do you find time to read?

I don't. With 2 kids, you simply have to make the time. In between internet time, fighting zombies, doing laundry, wrestling with the boys etc. If you're hooked on a good read, you'll find yourself picking up that book whenever possible. Except when driving. Heh. At work, I tend to read when I'm sick of work (which is pretty often these days – pre-bonus mode) or during lunchtime. After or before my afternoon nap that is.

Be gone, internet! You are terrible.

I'm feeling kinda wretched today. Why are women so helpless at fighting our hormonal imbalances? 'Girl on Fire' was on radio this morning and I wanted to scream you're a liar Alicia Keys! You don't know anything about my suffering! I can't fly away from my catastrophe! You can't either! When we're PMS-ing it's a different kind of fire altogether!

Ok I'll shut up now. I'm gonna listen to some K music because B2ST is out with a killer song for Iris 2 and music from Primary and the Messengers heal everything. Well, almost.

Let's eat.

only 5 days more

I managed to clear our wardrobe over the weekends yay! well kind of. it looks tidier now but I have a whole bunch of clothes-that-I-dont-know-if-I-should-donate-or-keep in the big basket. So the battle is half-way over. Hee hee.

 

New week but I'm already singing 'here's to a freaky weekend, I'll drink to that'. Looking forward to a short getaway with the family.

Cutting down internet time

"Everyone lives life through a screen now," Zihan, Basement in City blog.

Just a thought

Some people just refuse to learn from other people's tragedies. Parents, don't ever leave your kids unattended in the car. Even if you need to make a quick dash to the ATM. A silly mistake may cause a lifetime of regret. Always keep an eye on your children.

I hate to preach. I am imagining that if that woman's kids get kidnapped I would never forgive myself for not telling her off for leaving her kids in the car.

No more sad March

I used to call the month of march - sad March.

But that is no more! Live life to the fullest tally-ho and all that. Ok reasons to be happy, March time:
1. Birthday month
2. Bonus month
3. Husband has revealed what he's getting for me and it is a gadget!
4. Imaan Emre turning 2. That child walks
with a ray of sunshine I tell you.

I haven't decided what to get for myself. I suppose we'll have to see what's my bonus like this year. Can't wait. :)

(I have Daniel Henney on my table oh glee)

Hey Baba

He would have been 69 today. I can't seem to imagine what would a 69 year old man be like. Cranky? At ease? Cares more about the grandkids than me?

Anddddd just like any other grieving posts I can't seem to write things down.

==

Hope you are resting well Baba. I think my boys inherited your stubborness. I love you always.

Amy.

Work is work is work

Probably just one of those weeks. Feeling unmotivated at work. Should I be worried? "One of those days" is normal but "one of those weeks"? That's a first.

Hopefully this is just a phase. I normally don't let what my superior complain about me (especially when it is uncalled for) get to me but the current workload is not helping me at all.

Jack of all trades, master of nothing. Hate it.

The boys

Everytime the boys misbehave in public I tell myself "the next time we go out again is when they're 15!"

They never listen. They wriggle themselves out of my grasp when I hold them. Emre would resort to biting me. Rumi would go all dramatic, roll on the floor and tell me he doesn't love me.

But all it takes is patience. Because when we go home Rumi would fall asleep with his face tucked under my neck. Emre, in his weird diction would tell me he loves me even if his bite marks are starting to hurt a little.

Everyday I tell myself I'm so blessed to have them. Life is too short to be angry at them all the time.

Ahh that sinking feeling when you realize you're back to square one when you can't share your workload with other (new) colleagues. Only consolation is that my jobscope is a specialized portfolio. wuhhuu.

Bad news? I can't get a decent day off without thinking about my deadlines.

Oh well, work is work is work. I'm just going to chill with my boys tomorrow. A day off on a Friday oh yeah!

I took a picture with my brother yesterday. I can't really remember the last time I smiled for the camera with him. Maybe it was on my wedding day.

Most of the time he frustrates me, where is your direction in life? How much money do you have in your savings account right now? What are your plans for the future?

 

I dont blame him. Growing up, he's always been protected by our Queen Mother and to this day, their stories together of how he took care of my grandmother till her last breath continues to warm my heart. By the time Mok passed away after my father, he was a lost kid trapped in a man's body. We decided that he should move to KL and start over and until today, I still find myself worrying about him.

 

We have never been close. Him, being lampooned in Kota Bharu and me in KL, I just couldn't really connect with him. I guess the past few years since his move I've been trying to mend everything. Not a daunting task except both of us are the quite types, so you can imagine the dramatic pauses and the sound of crickets throughout our meals together! But now I take pride in nagging him. I'm not too concerned about his personal life, boy can try to mend his broken heart for as long as he wants but when it comes to his savings, I'm on full mak nenek mode. I'm thankful that he is not the rebellious type, I mean we started pretty late on his savings, but he's been saving diligently for the past few years. I should know, I've been keeping the money for him!

 

My prayer for Aiman is that one day he will grab life by its horns and soar like the wind. I want him to find a better job, a nicer girlfriend etc. but he should do it on his own accord. Ganbatte!

 

And oh, Happy Valentine's Day. Spread the love.

Wordless Wednesday

Bagan Lalang lulz

Well we went to Bagan Lalang yesterday (Monday) and all I took was the photo of this tiger! The last time we were here was probably 5 years back, when R wanted to introduce me to his bestfriends. Talk about being nervous. The seafood was good (still good) and the funniest thing from that trip was how we got stopped at a road block. Why? Because I was faking an expression of being kidnapped. So kudos to the cops for being suspicious about us but R was a nervous wreck! Hee hee. And I thought I couldn't act.

2 kids later, we're back at the same place but this time around to check out the beach. As expected, the beach was dirty, the water was murky but I think the kids enjoyed themselves. Rumi was immediately drawn to the sand, and Emre took a nose-dive into the water. That kid knows no fear I tell you.

A mild annoyance is that we couldn't find fresh water to wash ourselves (I guess most of them at the beach were staying at the hotels/motels/chalets nearby) but thank god the seafood restaurant had a clean restroom (but not an hour later, when people started flocking the resto like bees). No food photos either, because Emre was quite cranky -- I would too, if I had sand in my wet diaper!

Looking forward to more beach trips but I think I should consider getting a sandbox for the boys for now. Less stress for us. :)

Hope you guys will have a good Chinese New Year. Off to collect some ang pows!

Just realized that my posts are pretty angst-y lately. Stop it!

Got myself a new phone today. Yeah, big deal I know. But I paid in cash! I am totally winning at life. Well, kind of. :)

(photo stolen from my husband's instagram)