The Other Stuff...

Now that I've written one entry exclusively about Farah, I shall write one jumbled-up entry about everything else.

1. My Royal Fatness

Please don't try to placate me or roll your eyes when I talk about this. You don't see what my mirror sees. *wails*

My tummy, my bottom and my thighs have been expanding rapidly. Those packs of Kinder Bueno are not helping. I'll soon have an hourglass figure - if you take into account only my tummy and my bottom.

I am trying - well, not very hard - to get rid of the excess weight, or at least, to redistribute the fats. I've tried the concealment method - corsets, tummy-flattening-butt-firming-thigh-constricting knickers from Marks and Spencers which don't come cheap, abdominal binders. They don't really work. Once those things come off, all the flabby parts jump out for joy from all their hiding places.

Then I tried walking very, very fast. I walked Huda to school and back home again. But, I had to go through throngs of Republic Poly students so when RP became an H1N1 cluster, I figured it was not a wise idea to expose Farah to the RP students. So we went back to the tried-and-tested TheGrandfather-drives-Huda-to-school-while-TheMother's-bottom-expands-at-home method.

I was also supposed to take my grandmother for walks in the evening but that did not burn any calories because she needed to stop at every bench available.

2. My SAHM-ship

Now I'm back to being a Stay-At-Home-Mother. Not drawing any salary, I'm trying to curb my expenses on taxi. So, instead of taking the taxi to my mom's place, I walk there. Which would be respectable if my mother's house was very far away. But, it's not. So, there's nothing to shout about there. But, I always delude myself into thinking that I'm saving money each time I walk there and all the extra savings go into my chocolate fund which, you guessed it, is for tummy-expansion purposes. *rolls eyes* (Insert prayer: Oh God, please help me have some self-control in the chocolate department.)

It's not too bad, the life of this SAHM. Because I'm an inept one, Huda still goes to full day childcare. We feel that she has much to learn from going to school. She picks up nonsense too from her peers but that is to be expected. More on this later.

When both of them are home together, both of them will fight for my attention. Yes, both of them. So, when Huda goes to school, I get to play with Farah exclusively. Otherwise, Farah would be deprived of the attention that Huda received when she was Farah's age.

And as Farah takes her morning naps like the good girl that she is, I manage to cook and clean the house, well, on most days lah. So, home-cooked food is a more frequent occurrence now than the last time I went on my unpaid leave.

But, in the cooking department, I'm still very, very much a novice. There's much to learn and I still don't enjoy cooking Malay food (though I like eating it) because Malay food is just so leceh to cook. There are lots of spices needed and pounding to be done. Then, the cooking process is also complicated. "Stir fry over medium heat until the paste is fragrant.." Define fragrant - ck1? Gucci Envy? Sorry Malay cooking connoisseurs; that's why I prefer cooking western and other non-Malay dishes.

3. Hunting for A Home

We found something we both like. BUT, the owner seems to be dragging his feet. I'll keep you posted on this as the situation unfolds. We'll be disappointed if we don't get this because this is the best there is in the area we're looking at.

4. Huda

Huda enjoys school. As always. She learns lotsa good stuff from the school but when you interact with your peers, it's inevitable that you pick up a couple of things from them. For example, she would say, "I don't friend you!" whenever she's frustrated with someone or something. We're, of course, aghast at the ungrammaticality of "I don't friend you." The thing is, she has no idea what it means. She knows that it's said in a frustrating situation. So, when a recalcitrant plastic bowl refused to stay in its place, she threw the bowl onto the floor and shouted, "I don't friend you!"

5. Rambutans

See those red rambutans? I see them so tantalisingly close every time I look out of my window. But even with my 8-foot-long bamboo pole, I can't reach them. Darn.

Gotta stop now. Must feed the little one. Til next time!!