Friday.....

A good start to a good day, and insyaAllah a blessed day. Thought of just preparing a simple breakfast and later a simple lunch. It's definitely going to be a simple day. That's the plan. Tak mau sesakkan otak dan stresskan diri. Promised myself a good and restful weekend. One thing yang tak best, I missed my solat tahajjud early, early this morning. Tak terjaga pun, walau dah set alarm clock. Luckily woke up in time for subuh. Alhamdulillah. Opps... TV is on ok, to watch the Maulidur rasul celebration. Weather today is gloomy, tanda-tanda nak hujan dah ada. Tak tau weather at Putrajaya macam mana. Hopefully it's just gloomy, windy without the rain. At least tak panas. So talking about the weather, basically it's best just to stay home.

The girls need to study, especially Marissa. Exam coming, next week ke, next next week ke, it makes no difference... it's coming anyway. Tanya banyak kali, dia kata kita berleter pulak. Tapi kalau tak berleter, they all boleh jadi lalai. Maybe I should ubah style of berleter... Ada ke style lain???

Signing off for now....and wishing for a good and blessed weekend.

".... cukuplah Allah menjadi pelindung kami dan Allah adalah sebaik-baik Pelindung" (Ali-Imran: 173)

Salam Maulidur Rasul & Selamat Bercuti

It has been a while since I last updated this blog. Had been busy, both back home and office. Tak sempat. Few articles are in the draft mode, belum finalise pun. Not in a publish-able mode, not at all. Will do that when time permits.

Will be a long weekend, a 3-day weekend. Hope to catch up on the lost 'sleep' (penting tu), dan apa saja kerja-kerja rumah yang tertinggal. So many things on mind sebenarnya, so many plans. Dapat buat half pun kira dah ok.

Besok sambutan Maulidul Rasul. My daughter kata "besok kita gi Putrajaya". Maknya kata "kita tengok TV boleh tak?". I felt guilty saying that, honestly. You think I'll be in Putrajaya or tengok TV? Hmmm....

Walaupun sambutan Maulidur Rasul ini adat sahaja, tetapi ia adalah adat yang bersifat ibadah dan wajar diteruskan. Sambutan ini ialah untuk mengembalikan ingatan kita umat akhir zaman terhadap junjungan besar kita Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. Semoga dengan ingatan ini akan bertambah perasaan kasih kepada baginda, serta sewajarnya kita mengenang, menghargai serta mengambil iktibar kisah suka duka perjuangan baginda.

So, salam Maulidur Rasul to all dan selamat bercuti.

"Jika kamu mencintai Allah, ikutilah aku (Nabi), maka Allah akan mencintaimu dan mengampuni dosa-dosamu" (QS 3:31)

Syazlina.....

I owe this to my youngest sister whom i did not manage to offer any birthday tribute like I did to the rest. Her birthday was 4th January. Orang tengah kelam kabut la, cek oi. First day at work lepas cuti lama. Supposed I overlooked that. Anyway, it is never too late.... Here it goes..

Syazlina, born 4th January 1980. When mak gave birth to her, I was already 18 years old. Dapat adik... happy? Hmm... tak tau lah. Dah ramai adik masa tu. To me at that point of time, it was just another addition to the family. No big deal. That was bad of me, I supposed. For the record, mak gave birth to all of us at home. Tak de pergi hospital pun time tu. Cuma for post natal, mak would go to Klinik Kesihatan few kilometers away from home. Our bidan kampung was Mak Lamah. She was the only bidan that we knew. Bila mak sakit that night, ayah went to fetch Mak Lamah. The oldies gathered at home, waiting for the new arrival, macam ada kenduri. We, the girls gathered at one corner, scared tengok mak in pain. Ayah would be up and down fetching whatever was required by Mak Lamah. Finally the baby arrived... hmmm... another girl. That make seven of us, girls in the family. We were all kelam kabut... i remembered ayah asked me and my partner in crime, Haiza to get some lada hitam. Dalam panik dan takut kat ayah, we scrambled into the kitchen and got a few of those so-called lada hitam, or we thought 'lada hitam'. Until we heard ayah jerit "oi, ni bukan lada hitam, ni bijik kabu! Kabu is kekabu. Those days, kekabu kita guna buat bantal. Banyak in my kampung. And yang tak masuk akal, kenapa simpan biji-biji kabu kat dapur, together with rempah ratus lain!. Dah la tu, it looked the same to us yang jarang masuk dapur. Nak-nak masa tengah panik like that. Tengah-tengah malam pulak tu. Walau pun kena marah, we had a good laugh after that.

Back to Syazlina, being the youngest, grew up very attached to ayah and mak. We the elder ones, somehow (nak tak nak) adored her la jugak. Namapun anak bongsu. I left kampung during my college years and later left for work in KL. Still managed to help mak couple of months before I left. The distance, the age gap those days did not help much. We got drifted apart. To her, I was just another big sister that she has. But as the saying goes - blood is thicker than water - along the way as we are all now in the forties, thirties, we got back together. We became close, especially after ayah passed away. Mak is staying with her now. Being the youngest and closest to mak, we saw it that mak is more comfortable with her. Susah nak put in words, but I wish she also know that I love her and will always be there for her.

4th January 2010, she turned 30 years old. Dah dewasa anak bongsu mak and ayah. I wish her the best that life could offer.... all the happiness she could ask for. Semoga sentiasa dirahmati Allah swt.

Oppsss.... she has a blog. It's kebunpinang.blogspot.com. Sounded sentimental, tapi sebenarnya cengei makcik ni! Boleh tanya mak ....

"Sisters are for sharing laughter and wiping tears"

Nostalgia....

My sister finally started blogging.... actually dah tolong set up the blog dah lama. Jawapan-jawapan yang klise... malas la, tak dak idea la, nak tunggu konsep la. I told her, kalau tunggu and tunggu and tunggu, we will get to nowhere. Wake up one day, tekan keyboard.... yes, the idea would come. And she finally is here - pokoknyioq.blogspot.com. Why pokok nyioq? She explained that in her blog. Memang in our kampung those days, banyak pokok nyioq. Around the house, around the kampung. Memang banyak. Kalau musim hujan and ribut petir paling takut. You could see all these trees almost menyembah bumi dipukul dek ribut. Memang takut masa tu. Macam2 doa keluar. And also belakang rumah banyak pokok buluh. Could hear all the crazy hustling and whistling sounds of these pokok. The funny part (dulu scary la) was bila ribut tengah2 malam, mak akan kejutkan all of us, everybody berselimut depan muka pintu (agaknya nak ready kot, kalau2 rumah roboh!). This is even weird - mak akan letak kukuq nyioq kat muka pintu, letak penyapu jugak. Katanya petua menghadang angin. Tak ingat la menjadi ke tidak ... rasanya ribut macam tu jugak. Tapi tiap2 kali hujan, ribut, bertahun-tahun lamanya, itu lah dia petua mak. Petua orang kampung mak kata. Hmm... lupa dulu2 nak check, ada ke tidak orang2 kampung lain yang buat macam tu. Ataupun, we all saja yang buat ... Anyway, as I always said, those were part of our growing up years in the kampung. Be it weird, be it funny, scary.... we had fun. Looking back I miss all these....

"Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons"

Wishing this dear sister of mine, http://pokoknyior.blogspot.com a very happy birthday. Born 7th Feb 1974, she's number seven in the family. When she was born, I was already in standard six. So I had no choice but to help mak taking care of her and indirectly involved in her growing up years. I remember sending her to kindergarden, cycling. That was after my form five. Since I was not doing anything, I was forced to send her, kayuh geghek... jauh tu!! But Sharos was a girl of not much problem. Me being the big sister, she had no choice but to follow whatever was dictated. She must have hated me for that! Anyway those were in the past. I left kampung while she was still in primary. Age gap and the many years away somehow drifted us apart. But as we journey through this land .... though each having own set of life, somehow in our grown-up years, we became close. Sharing the childhood memories and the grown-up dreams... those will be the best of all. She had been with me through the good times and the bad times. She is always there for me... I treasure all those. I will always be the big sister and I will always have a little sister, though she's not little anymore, literally!.

Today 7th February 2010, I would like to wish her the best in life... with all the happiness she could hope for. She is wished the nicest things that life can bring, insyaAllah.

Sharos, happy 36th birthday, but you will always be my little sister! I love you. Semoga sentiasa dimurahkan rezeki, diberkati segala usaha dan diberikan yang terbaik.

"In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips"

Another birthday...... another sister...

Wishing my dearest sister, Haiza a very, very happy birthday. Yes, time definitely flies very fast. Born on 4th Feb 1966, she was the closest to me and still is. Have always considered her my bestest friend... We grew up together, having fun as kids. She left for boarding school in her secondary and afterwards left to pursue her studies in the States. I remembered how I was so devastated, so sad. I lost a friend. She has always been there for the good times and the bad times. It was so good to have someone so special, who shares my secrets, my dreams, my cares. Someone through good times and bad, when there's tears. Thank you, Allah, for giving me a sister like her...

Today, 4th Feb 2010, I wish her all the best in life. I love her, she is my sister, my bestest friend...

Haiza, selamat hari lahir. Semoga Allah kurniakan yang terbaik, dimurahkan rezeki, dilimpahkan rahmat.

"Being a sister isn't a big thing,.... it's a million little things...."