Public Art @ KAED

During Ramadhan, my fellow KAED xcoursemates from Class of 99 has organised an Iftar @ KAED Gallery. Love the public arts on Ramadhan and Gaza. Keep it coming, guys!

 

Exhausted lagi

@ R&R otw from Kluang to KL. We took him out from the baby seat so he can stretch a bit and relax. He IS relax.

Shoes

I have different ones for different purposes.

Our Raya : Baju Raya - checked

This post is an update to this post.

Baju Raya - checked!

Actually the kids have two sets of matching baju raya. First one (mustard yellow), they wore in Kluang. I happened to collect a baju batik of the same colour from the tailor and my husband said it matches with the kids' so suddenly it become my baju raya-lah. Unplanned.

For Raya at my parent's, the kids put on different baju melayu.

Kids' & husband's baju raya this year are from BAK. Good quality. Mine is just a last minute baju kurung bought in Kluang. It supposed to be my office attire but since it matches with the kids' so why not?

(Photo credit : Faizal Othman)

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI.

MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN FROM US!

Exhausted

Our Raya house : Cushion cover - checked

This post is an update to this post.
I managed to go shopping with my mom after iftar, a few days before Raya.

We bought cushion covers. 

I bought graphic ones. I am very particular when it comes to pattern. And I usually dont buy same pattern for all cushions.

Raya cushion cover - checked.

Only yesterday I managed to buy the giant cushions for my living room. The kids love it!

So, this is how my living room looks like now.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA.

MAAF ZAHIR BATIN.

Raya 2014 preparation

None.

No baju raya.

No kuih raya.

No langsir raya.

No sarung kusyen raya.

Nothing for the house.

Yet.

Carpets are all in carpet washing shop. Dont know when it will be ready.

Microwave still at the repair shop. How are we going to reheat the Raya meal for guests?

Tiles at the kitchen are falling down. I do care but I have no time to deal with that.

We took out kitchen cabinet doors - it was eaten by termites - and everything is left exposed. I didnt know when I could sew a tiny curtain to hide the clutter in that area.

The house is currently a shipwreck. Having four active kids in the house, it is impossible for ONE particular thing to be left untouched. Everything migrates. Cushions, towels, pillows, toys, books, even our sofa moves. Putting a vase on the table is impossible. Nazmi will always end up ON the table with flowers IN his mouth.

Last weekend, I manage to clean up our porch. Before, it was quite hard because we have pest infestation issue. There used to be a lot of cock******s, rats and lizards everywhere but after the pest control work, they are gone. I can clean the whole porch without having to run or scream. I am a Katsaridaphobic. 

BUT

My husband manage to do some wiring work for lampu raya. I want lampu raya since forever. 

He also bought a new AC unit for our bedroom. And install another unit at our living room. 

He also finished installed our tiny green wall frame at our grill. I need to do some gardening work after this.

He has also arranged for our neighbour, Aril to re-paint our old gate. We hope it will look nicer in black.Thank you for that.

I have installed a black curtain at the living room but he requested for the old one because he prefers the stripes. "Striped curtain brings all components of the living room together", he said. Wow. I didnt know he is that poetic.

IMO 2014 - Yay!

What is IMO? (here)
My brother went to South Africa (here)

And they have won.

(Click image to enlarge)

Wow this is a quick and easy entry. Two links and one printscreen.
ExxonMobil Malaysia must be very proud!

My Potted Garden

While waiting for buka puasa, Nazran plant ginger and some potatoes. The Green Ambassador in action. 

Those are the latest addition to my existing potted garden. I have both edible and decorative plants. 

For edible plants I have oregano, (dying) basil, (dying) daun sup, onion, rosemary, halia bara, pandanus, tongkat ali, sabung nyawa, limau purut, cili padi bulat and turmeric. Oh yes, ginger and potato too!

Ramadhan at my office

Ramadhan at my office is the best month of the year.

Earlier this month (Ramadhan), we have Ihya Ramadhan event. There were tazkirah, nasyid performance, tadarus with the Hon Minister and Zuhur congregational prayer.

Everyone received a box of dates and Islamic books.

I joined tadarus AlQuran ever year with the same group. We have another 17 pages to go! yay!

Then there was Iftar. I went there with the whole family. TokPa sat at our table and had a chat with my family.

My kids perform full tarawikh that night and they received duit raya from TokPa. We bring home a plenty of moreh's food. See that three small kids with brown baju melayu below? That's them. I didnt join them because I was running around chasing baby Nazmi.

Today, there were Kulliyyah Ramadhan on Halalan Toyyiban (food) and distribution of bubur lambuk and gulai kawah by TokPa. 

I also received a box of dates from UAE's Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, as last year. Today's rezeki. Bubur lambuk, gulai kawah and dates. Alhamdulillah.

Every night throughout Ramadhan, my office prepared iftar for those who stayed back (officers, maintenance office, guards, police officers). 

(still waiting a photo from my friend).

It is a very fulfilling month. I love Ramadhan at my office.

Alhamdulillah.

1M4U 2014 : The preparation

I am the project leader for the Greening of the Urbanscape for 1M4U held in June. Click here for the previous post. For kids, we have organised a Green Ambassador programme. Gonna talk about that in separate post.

Banner / bunting design

I worked closely with the graphic designer on the banner and bunting designs. Honestly I want to do it myself but I didnt have the time. I am a micromanager and I am trying my best to change slowly. I ran here and there to get the approval for the designs and once I have obtained the approval, I ran to the printing shop to get it printed. It took 24 hours to complete.

Button badges

I designed a button badge for the kids, to make them PROUD to be our Green Ambassador. I emailed design to my friend, Tengku Azam, who has a printing company and the badges completed the next morning. I picked them up at 9pm. 

Prizes

On weekend prior to the event, me and my committee went out separately to buy some items for our programme. I am in-charge for prizes for Green Ambassador's drawing and colouring competitions. I bought educational Illusion Science sets and story books for main prize winners and all participants will receive a magic colour sets.

Gardening sets

My committee, Eylia went to IKEA to buy the sets. There was a bit of miscommunication on the figure and she agreed to turned back. I owed her big time. We have chosen the CUTEST gardening set for the Green Ambassadors! I WANT ONE!!

We packed the gardening set together with latex gloves and face towel for each kids. 

Souvenirs

We gave a token of appreciation to other agencies. My friend have extra goodie bags for kids from her previous charity event and she decided to distribute them during this event. Thank you.

Competition areas

I printed labels for both competitions. It was held at my office's lobby. There were two sofa sets at the lobby but the handsome logistic team managed to transform the area overnight.

The team worked hard to prepare the tools and three event areas for my program. Thank you! I went back at 10pm on the night before the event to make sure everything is in place for tomorrow :)

Boxes

I came extra early on THE day with 6 kids. They helped me to bring down 20 empty boxes and prepare the venue for herb planting programme for Green Ambassadors. Great job!

I am grateful for all contribution and assistance I received from everybody to make this event a success. Alhamdulillah.

Nazmi and books

We are trying to cultivate reading habit in the young minds. We bought them books, read together, make the Big Bad Wolf a very special event for the whole family and we put books everywhere in the house. Recently, I put a plenty of children and puzzle books in our car, in the slot at the car door to be exact.

Whenever they enter the car, it become automatic that they will reach for the book first. I can see Nazmi started to love books, which is a very good sign.

Tak kisahlah terbalik pun.

Biological clock

As we are trying hard to adjust our biological clock during this Ramadhan, baby Nazmi's biological clock also went haywire.

This is him, arranging books at nearly 2 am. He just woke up and just finished running around the whole house. I am a sleep deprived mom.

My brother in The Star

Taken from:

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Education/2014/06/22/Boost-for-maths-and-science/

Boost for maths and science

Published: Sunday June 22, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM 
Updated: Sunday June 22, 2014 MYT 8:02:12 AM

Thumbs up for maths: Idris (fifth from left) together with Prof Sharifah Hapsah, See and Prof Noor Azlan (third, fourth and sixth from left respectively), and some of the Olympiad participants (front row).

MALAYSIAN students will be able to improve and enhance their study and understanding of mathematics and science, thanks to ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc (ExxonMobil Malaysia), which has contributed RM444,500 towards the promotion of both the subjects.

The company presented RM334,500 to the Academy of Sciences Malaysia in support of the National Science Challenge, while RM110,000 was given to Pusat Permata Pintar Negara, which in turn would use the proceeds for the Malaysian contingent which is competing in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).

“As a technology-based company, we believe that science, technology, engineering and mathematics form the cornerstone of any country’s socio-economic progress,” said ExxonMobil chairman and president See Kok Yew at the cheque presentation held recently at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

“Attracting young people to the study of mathematics and science is thus critical in ensuring that Malaysia’s growing technological needs can be met.”

Also present at the ceremony were Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, UKM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali, ASM president Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali and Projek Permata Negara adviser Prof Tan Sri Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin.

In his speech, Idris commended ExxonMobil Malaysia for its exemplary corporate social responsibility in support of Malaysia’s talent development efforts.

“It is with such initiatives that the private sector can help the Government to achieve its 60:40 targeted ratio in the Technical Science and Literature Policy by 2020.”

This year the challenge saw the participation of 2,891 teams from 363 schools nationwide. The semi finals will be held in August at Universiti Putra Malaysia, while the finals is to be held in October.

The team that comes out tops will join the academy’s delegation on a study visit to Stockholm and witness the prestigious Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in December.

Meanwhile, the Olympiad will be held in Cape Town, South Africa.

Each country is represented by six contestants and participants have to solve three mathematical problems within four and a half hours in each of the two days of competition.

From 12,000 participants, Anzo Teh Zhao Yang, Justin Lim Kai Ze, Khong Yi Kye, Shazryl Shafyz Zulrushdi, Tan Kin Aun and Yeoh Zi Song were chosen to make up the Malaysian contingent for this year.

Along with deputy team leader Irwan Iqbal Ihsanuddin, team leader Mohd Suhaimi Ramly* has been training the boys for the past year.

“We’ve held a series of training camps. And we have weekly meetings where they do the mock tests.

“They’re already good at mathematics so the purpose of training is to sharpen their problem-solving abilities in time for the competition,” said Mohd Suhaimi.

*(he is the rightmost person in the photo. the happiest guy)

Huge Mind Map Assignment 01 : THE Assignment

One fine day, I received an assignment from Alvin Ung.

Assignment to be a visual architect. A mind mapper to be exact.

 It was the most intimidating assignment I ever received in my life. I think.

Capture a mind map?
Big piece of paper?
Drawing some visuals?
Visual fun?
I was hyperventilated for 2 weeks. I emailed Alvin at 3.00am for a couple of days just to tell him I cant sleep thinking about of this assignment. lol.

Wanna know what happened next? 
STAY TUNE!

New project : Ramadhan Charity Box

 

I just finished distributing charity boxes to two blocks of building.

I feels good.

Sharp fish

Salam Ramadhan

Herbs

I have attended a meeting at PWTC and to my surprise, there was an expo on herbs and herb-related products at the ground floor. I guess this is what they called the Law of Attraction. I started to love gardening and herbs, and everywhere I go, there will be something related to gardening. 

I bought this precious book and two packets of lemongrass. Then, I received a free soil mix.

Post 1M4U : Herbs!

I dont know when does it started but right now I am crazy about edible garden. (No, I am not alone. My husband is as crazy as I am right now..syyy...)

I bought these precious herb plants at the 1M4U event.

I bought rosemary, basil, oregano, daun sup (what it is called in English? - pls leave a comment), turmeric plant and pandanus. I also got a few local herb plants for free from the committee - halia bara, tongkat ali and limau purut. The other one is called sabung nyawa, I think. I dont know what it is used for but the plant is beautiful so I took it home.

Post 1M4U : Green Ambassadors

After coming home from the 1M4U event, the kids (Nabil, Nazreen, Nazran, Haziq, Sarah and Jaja) were still pretty excited with their gardening sets. Who wouldnt? It is extremely cute!

My husband helped my mom to plant Pandanus amaryllifolius which I bought at the 1M4U event. Following that, the kids started to work on my mom's herb garden. Then they became a bit territorial over the small strip of land at the back of my parent's house.

Before they started to argue with each other, my husband prepared some plant pots and soil mix so they could do their own stuff in their own pots. We gave two each.

We dont have to teach them how to do it. They still remember clearly what they supposed to do. It is quite impressive to see them handled the soil and vulnerable plants with care.

Baby Nazmi loves gardening. I can tell.

We prepared plant tag for everyone using corrugated plastic board for it could withstand water/moisture. They write their names and shove the tags into the soil, halfway. They were tasked to water the plants everyday.

Green Ambassadors in the making. I am proud.

Blood Drive

Today is my 6th or 7th time donating blood.

I am an AB+. It feels so good to be able to help people in need.

1M4U : Greening Urbanscape @ Jejambat Jalan Duta

Again, I am the Project Leader for 1M4U project. This time, it is truly a crazy coordination work but I enjoyed it. I have the best team.

I have to coordinate tasks between 5 different clubs and 2 agencies and coordinate participation from another 8 agencies. I hope I can get 200 people to join. Wanna join?

Two dead fish

My sister and her family went to Terengganu for nearly a week. She sent SOS WA in our family group, asking anyone to buy fish food for two tiger fish in her room. We have no idea she keep fish in her bedroom +__+

We went to buy fish pallet and after feeding the starving fish, we decided to pull prank on her (We = me, my mom and my kids). We started to draw.

I announced in the group that we found two dead fish in their room.

..

...

After a few seconds, I felt bad for my nephew and my niece. So I uploaded the photos of the dead fish.

LOL. My mom was very serious about the whole set up. I placed the dead fish on the bed, but she said....NO, the background have to be BLUE. The fish died in the water. She took a blue pillow and started to arrange the dead fish on it. "Make sure they look dead", she said while I adjusting the camera.

"OK".

gentle reminder

I need to post a few gentle reminders here.

If your working hour starts at  7.30am or 8.00am, it means you have to WORK starting from 7.30am or 8.00am. Not just punched in and join the 8.30am crowd for breakfast until 8.30am. 8.30am crowd starts working at 8.30am. But 7.30am and 8.00am crowds, you guys SHOULD START YOUR WORK AT 7.30am or 8.00am. Please eat before that.

If you have a lot of work, cut short your lunch time. I usually take 10 minutes to finish my lunch and continue my work. Having a one hour lunch break does not mean you have the right to eat for 30 minutes and spend another 30 minutes watching Korean drama. Or worse, on Friday, eat for 30 minutes and spend another 2 hours watching movie. You can accomplish may things in 2 hours. I choose to complete my OUTSTANDING TASKS.

Have system in the office. Remember where you put things.

Always have list of outstanding tasks in front of you.

Say only important things. Other people have work to do.

My Working Wall

Working Wall at my office. 
Series of mindmap (far) and planning for slide presentation (the closer one).

Food : Fever

I was down with a fever during weekend and my husband prepared barbeque and steamoat for dinner. The next day, I prepared white rice and grilled salmon for baby Nazmi. Salmon is his favourite fish :)

Food : Tea Time

My husband was away for a photoshoot. I prepared Mi Bandung Muar for him in the evening. And of course, some fruits.

Best friends at IIUM Sports Complex

Every Saturday and Sunday, I will usually be running around sending Nabil to his tuition class (Malay, English, Math & Science) from 9am to 1pm and Nazreen and Nazran to their reading classes (Nazreen - English & Nazran - Malay) from 11am to 12.30pm, if my husband is not around.

Last two weeks, my husband was away for photoshoot and Nabil's tuition teacher was away performing umrah, so, in between sending Nazreen and Nazran to their reading class and picking them up after one and the half hour later, we went to IIUM. And there was an annual primary school's sport event. We stopped by and let Nazmi sit under the tree and watch the games (ok, ok, I am the one who wanted to watch the games).

Potluck : The Food

For my office's potluck, I made Apple Crumble - Kek Batik - Fruit Cocktail Custard with Mango Pudding. As usual.