Cherry Picking

Last weekend we had an outing to Cherry Heaven in Wandin. It was great. The kids enjoyed it and the misses and myself ate our bellies full. Before that day I always thought cherries tasted like cough medicine (thanks to the artificial cherries on most cakes). Thanks Hanim/Wanzaw for changing my perception. Now I know it taste better and crunchier than grapes. Tak muak lak tu. Layaaannn!!!! Recommended if you want to have a relaxing non stop cherry eating day. Lastly a little tip they shared with us... don't pull the cherry but instead twist it until it falls out so that other cherries can grow on the same stem.

warning: too many cherries may cause multiple visits to the Dunny. 

Sakit tangan?.. hopefully not anymore

Ergonomic Mouse 

When you fly desk as much as we do either at home or at the office, you tend to get the hand cramps from  handling the mouse too much. We thought it would be wise to invest in an Ergonomic Mouse just to reduce the pain. The wifey had already started using the trackball mouse (Loigitech M570) at work and she thinks its wonderful. So we got the exact one just because we know it works for her. As long it works for the misses it should be fine (I have to get a new one if not)... me and the kids just have to adapt (start the kids young to learn to adapt).

Its been a few days now. We love it. I took a while to get use to it. Still want to keep lifting the mouse when you can just roll the ball to move the cursor. On the other hand Zareef had no problems at all (Zara doesnt care all that much yet). I showed Zareef a few moves he was keen and learned it... no worries.

After a few hours later while we was doing something I saw him adjusting the volume just by using the mouse (no cursor movement). I thought that was impressive because it took me a while to figure that one out. Happy to know we can learn from each other. Anyways... I hope from now on we wouldnt have anymore cramps.. Insyallah.

ps..Oh yeah the misses wants to buy another desk to get the right Ergonomic height.

Raya 2010 vs 2011

Changing nasty oil

Processing the oil  

Syawal is nearly over and the Raya season is passing us by even in Mesia the one country I know that celebrates it for a month. I still remember last year we had the crappiest Raya ever. We didnt get the day off (baru start kerja), work wasnt easy, knew hardly anybody, kids got sick often, things were bloody expensive. It wasnt fun I can tell you that.

I still remember that Raya day. At work, something dropped into the oil I was replacing (part of my training) and it splashed all over me.... I said to myself "what a %&@ life, others are wet with wuduk and me with this nasty stinking oil". I vowed we are not celebrating raya like this again. Felt sad and guilty that the kids will miss out on our culture. So we said we are going back each raya from now on. But 2011 would be different because MIL is around. Next year onwards insyallah. We can only plan.

This year raya on the other hand was full of happy feelings. Got great food (lemang, ketupat , rendang, kuih tart... semualah) and great company. Did all the traditional stuff. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. Thinking back about last year makes it all the sweeter. Even my waistline agrees. So below are some of our happier memories of Raya in Melbourne.

Some lessons are learnt by their consequences

Jangan kacau... nanti dia marah!

karang dia cakar kang!

Best kena cakar?!!!

Kids (Adults too i guess)... You keep warning them... but it just doesn't get through to them. Some lessons are learnt by their consequences. Thats why I reckon sometimes we have to let people make their own mistakes. Choosing which ones is the hard task.

Zareef the budak hutan... org hutan pun boleh jugak!

The budak2 hutan's

Muscle lah konon... keding giler adalah

Lovely mama and Zara waiting for the show

Zareef doing his drum part of the song

On stage doing their thing

Selamba nya... We need to talk son! 

Last week Zareef was involved in a Cabaret held by his school. It was held at a city council hall and it was very nice. Although they had hundreds of kids yelling and running around everything went very smooth and enjoyable.

Zareefs class was doing the George of The Jungle song. They nailed it pretty well. Especially making the "ooooOOOOooOOOO" tarzan sound while pounding their chest. Their costumes were awesome and cute. All the parents loved it. Kids loved it too... paling tak tahan zareef kacau a girl that was kinda flabby. Dangerous Zareef ni... one of the pics is the evidence. 

Till next time.. 

Bukak puasa di Ostrolia

Last weekend we had a bukak puasa at our house. We loved it coz it just brings our culture of breaking fast together. Sharing food with other Muslims is a blessed feeling. we had lovely food from Ikan bakar, kerabu, kfc, tart and other manisan. I loved it when the dining table was full of food and people eating. Addition to our very Malay cultured night we had Upin Ipin as part of our entertainment. It was fantastic and enjoyed by all of us. I hope to keep this tradition going inshallah as to not forget the finer things in life.

Ya Allah, Rahmatilah Ibu kesayangan ku.

I have recently lost my beloved mother. How dearly I miss her and love her. I'm going through a stage were every memory is coming back in flashes bringing smiles and laughter. How much I adore her for her love and strength. Anybody who knows her will confirm how loving she is and how she will do everything for her loved ones. I can't write too much without shedding tears so I will stop here.

I love you Mama!!

I will pray everyday that Allah place you among those who are blessed and loved by Him

Visiting Dino's

The kids are into dinosaurs nowadays. We rather have them involved in dinos rather than 'lady gaga' or 'ben 10'. So we decided to have a visit to the dino show in the city so they can see 'real' like dinosaurs. Enjoy the video.

The first year in Melbourne - part 1

It has been a year since we arrived in Melbourne. How time flies. After each milestone or 'check ins' i always like to ponder back what we/I have done in that time. So this post is a summary of how our first year was in Melbourne

Struggle but surviving the change and moving. Still remembered how panicked i was before getting a house and a job. Stress giler especially financially. I realized how expensive and confusing Melbourne can be. Wouldn't do that again.

Zareef first birthday in melbourne was a real quiet one compared to the ones he has had before. We always had a party for our birthdays - any excuse to get together is a great excuse - those were the days. I have always wanted to get Zareef this present. In a way it represents a little why we moved here. couldn't even think of getting it before i got a job here.

My birthday was a damped one as well.. no complains i think when you past 18 you don't really want people to know how old you are

Little by little we started exploring our surrondings... From the zoo to the beaches to the markets to the parks... we started falling in love with Melbourne our new home...

Had a few gathering as well just to make sure we feell melayu and keeping to the roots..

Mt hotham was a real memorable expedition... had lots of fun and experiences there... the theme of that trip was 'extreemeee'.

Maz birthday wasnt that bad... we had lunch beside the yarra river.... it was lovely day too...

Puasa and raya came... we had the open puasa gathering and bunga api which I really appreciate.. but when raya came I was really sad cause I was drenched in oil instead of wuduk for sembahyang raya.... the only day i regret being here instead of Mesia... we also had the open houses which just bring backs home..

Thats it for now.. i'll write more later.

New Look + Starting again

Its been a while since the last entry. I dont want to give lame stories or excuses behind it (and no... my absent posting is not due to the tragic 5-0 loss which many may think). But i do admit it was tragic. Patah hati sampai sekarang. Dah lah league macam nak kalah gakkk!!..

Soooo... moving on, I changed the look of the blog. Still not the look i'm looking for, if I have time i'll try to make it better but its just to show my initiative to blog again especially SHARING STORIES OF US TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

I just got back from Mesia and there were so many stories to share with them and I realized how much the people close to us care for our family. It kicked my blogging bum to get back to writing in a subtle way. I would try and make blogging a routine I promised myself.

So just to sum up what i did in Mesia:

• Me Mom wasnt well, had to go to the hospital and spend time with her when she was home. I always try to keep my promise of taking care of the people I love/care, and My mom is among the top in the list. I always feel sad being so far away and hearing she is not well. My dad is getting old too and although he tries to show how fit he is, I know he is getting tired. I really do appreciate what my lil sis Wawa and Bibik taking care of them.
• Visit Family and Friends - I tried to visit as many as I can. A week is not that long so I'm sorry if I didn't get a chance to meet some people. Had a blast and really felt happy to catch up with people. This the thing I miss most.

• Eat - Food, food and more food. For the first few days I ate like there was no tomorrow but afterwards I just think I had an Overflow feeling and slowed down dramatically. You cant eat everything in the world (my thinking might defer from Wafi - but thats Wafi). Highlight food was the Kampung Gombak food, teh lapis, roti canai Raju & kueh teow FAM

• Sight Seeing - KL seems to change a lot in a little time. Either that or I was just katak tempurung when I was there. Yeah I think I am a katak tempurung cause Genting pun tak pernah pergi. The drive to Genting was nice (thanks geng for bringing me), although it was a little run down, I think Genting is kinda nice. Changkat was also very nice too. I still can't stand that French guy being suprised to see a Malay in Changkat. U ingat Changkat tu kat Eropah ke?
• 
• Shopping - Did a little of this. Although KL is not as cheap as I remembered it was still affordable to buy stuff. Got stuff yg memang susah nak dapat in Melbourne like telekung, sejadah etc2. Electronics/camera pun murah in KL. Baju Benzema je tak jumpa. Sekarang dah menyesal tak beli. And thanks everybody that bought our family stuff. They love it.

Thats about it I think, I hope this entry will be among the many that will come. Thanks for visiting and do leave a comment (positive ones alright!!) especially if your family and friends.