Maisarah's Poster

For Maisarah's second birthday (yes! you read it right, in November last year) I wanted to make a birth poster for Maisarah. I read about the birth poster in Charming Liz's blog. The birth poster's are made by Lisha of 'Show The Love'. She has made many beautiful posters and I wanted one to be placed in Maisarah's room when we move to our own house. So I ordered one from Lisha last November and she had it ready within a month from me placing the order. Unfortunately, due to busy schedule on my side, Lisha and I finally met a few weekends ago. I really love the final product. I opted for Lisha to print the poster and frame it for me. If you want to order a poster from Lisha, you can also opt to buy just the artwork and do the printing yourself. Her designs are very professional and eye catching. I can't wait to hang the poster on the wall.

Why Sayang?

It's been so long since I wrote an update on the Little Princess. She is getting smarter and smarter by the day. she loves to listen when we talk and she will but in and ask 'Apa?' if she wants to know more. Last few weeks, we were on skype with my sister in Edinburgh and I asked my sister why she passed out in the bathroom (my sis has a history of low blood pressure so that's why she passed out). Then Maisarah said 'Maisarah pergi toilet hari-hari untuk gosok gigi, tak pengsan pun!' (I go to the bathroom every day to brush my teeth and yet I don't pass out there!). Such a cheeky girl, this one. Sometimes we spell out things so that she won't find out what we're talking about. Once I was telling Shah via spelling that I have 'B-U-E-N-O', as in the chocolate. Then she spelled back and asked 'B-U-E-N-O tu apa?' to which we laughed. Now we can't even spell because she knows that is something we're hiding from her.

Anyway, lately she has been acting very moody. Sometimes she is ok and a few minutes later she will be cranky. And when we go out to the shops she always wants to be carried. Even at home, she will ask to be carried every where. Shah and I are losing or patience with her. Like today, we went out to Cold Sto*rage and she refused to sit in the trolley. She wanted her Abah to carry her around and was acting up. Shah is still unwell so we had run out of patience. We ended up going home without buying anything.

Are all kids her age like this or is she just being spoilt?

Project "Our Hive": Kitchen, Wardrobe and Curtains

Since Thursday we have been at the house to supervise the installation of our kitchen, wardrobe and curtains. Two of the three are done. Tomorrow they will continue with the kitchen. We are both tired, Shah especially. He has been sick since Thursday. Words cannot express how grateful I am to have a hubby like him. Thanks Abang for being there and doing lots of cleaning even when you're sick. In return, I will massage your legs and feet every day ok?

Project "Our Hive": Scrub and Clean

Shah and I spent this morning cleaning the house. Well, half of the house since we only cleaned the ground floor. We started with the kitchen because the cabinets will be installed on Thursday. I can't wait to see how it will turn out. I'm just praying that it will be nice.
Next week we'll be at the house on Thursday and Friday because our wardrobes will also be installed. I also managed to arrange for the curtains to be put up on Friday. So, on Thursday, Shah and I will have to clean the rest of the house.
I am super excited to see the kitchen, wardrobe and curtains being placed. By end of Friday, insyaAllah, the house will no longer look bare. Then, what's left is getting the furnitures moved in. It seems that our home renovation and furnishing project is almost done. But it won't be over soon, there are still smaller things to be done. So, we'll just go with the flow.
Pictures are of the drawing of our kitchen and the actual samples of the doors. Although, in the finalised design the worktop will be white in colour. Please, Allah, let it turn out nice!

My Darling Professional Engineer

On 30 June, I was away from office attending a Research Retreat at a hotel in Cyberjaya. My phone was not receiving any text messages after 9 am that morning. At around 3 pm, Shah called me and asked why wasn;t I replying his text messages. So on the way back to Uni*ten from the hotel I restarted my phone and his messages came through. One particular message made me smile with pride. The Board fo Engineers had passed his application to become a Professional Engineer. So my honey bee can now use the title 'Ir.'. No wonder he was angry at me for not replying his text.

To Shah, I am so proud of you. You have now proven that you are an excellent engineer. I knew you would get your 'Ir.' even before you sat for the exam. Well done Abang!

Now, don't ask me when am I going to sit for the Professional Engineers exam. I don't think I am ready yet plus I may face difficulties as I am registered as an 'Electronics Engineer' but doing work related to an 'Electrical Engineer'.

Shah hogging the TV, Maisarah hijacked my Ipod

Project Our Hive: Last Big Job

We started off with renovating the yard and fixing the grilles. This was followed by wiring works and adding cornice to the living and dining room ceiling. Next, we had our kitchen cabinets designed. But we couldn't finalise the design because it required repositining of the kitchen sink plumbing. So the plumbing work was what we did next, together with painting the rooms. Once the painting was done, we moved on to lighting and window dressing.

Now here we are, six months after the yard renovations. Tomorrow, insyaAllah, we are going to finalise the kitchen cabinet and master bedroom wardrobe. This will be our biggest investment for the interior of our home. Hopefully the cabinets and wardrobe can be installed by the end of this month. That will mark the last of the major renovation/furnishing work. Then we can finally drape the window dressings we chose a few weeks ago, the kitchen appliances can also be installed and the furnitures can be delivered. But before that, some time in the next few weeks, we've got to clean and scrub the house from top to bottom. So, let's get our cleaning gear and start scrubbing!

P/S: I'm so in love with the black fan we chose for the living room.

Three Months Flew By

In April, I had ambitious plans that we'd be able to sort the house out during the three months of semester break and come July we could move in. We planned to go back to Perlis during the break. Alas, all plans remain as plans which never materialised. Today is the second day of July and we've got many things to settle before the house is ready. And we're mostly sad that we had to work throughout the break and for go the holiday.

April was spent preparing for the external examiner's visit and making presentation slides for a short course I was giving. May came and we had to prepare for the annual programme review, to restrategise for the coming semester. Then, I spent the second half of May in U*KM attending a course on nuclear engineering. Come June, the third month of break, I was again preparing material for another course I was giving whilst juggling preparations for a conference we're hosting next week (6th and 7th July). This whole week I was again out of the office. The four-day course I was preparing for was delivered this week with a break in the middle to attend a research retreat. So to me this three months just whizzed by too quickly. And for the first time, ever since we started working, we didn't get to go for a holiday during the long break.

I have a class at 9am next Monday and I haven't prepared anything yet. It looks like it's going to be another bumpy start this semester. Pray that the semester goes well for me ok?