About All the Other Stuff

Here's an update about everything else.

1. Blog Condition

Sometimes, I'm ashamed of my blog. It's so bare-bones, compared to everything else on the Internet. But, I'm doing practically nothing about it. My updates are erratic; most are done when major things happen - like a pregnancy. Hur hur.

But I am not going to spruce up the blog. Other than putting more words here. Because I'm lazy like that.

2. Scrabble

I have downloaded a Scrabble app. And my Scrabble kakis (ie, my brothers) and I are playing too many Scrabble games in a day.

3. The Girls.

They fight and fight. Then play together like best friends. Then fight again. TheHusband and I are impervious to their frequent fights. Sometimes, one party will exaggerate and cry for an extended amount of time. Generally, they will still be ignored. Heh. Such excellent parents we are. Examples of their fights:

a. Farah took Huda's rubber band. Then, she sat down on the sofa and started reading a book. Huda wanted the rubber band back but Farah completely ignored her. She focused all her attention on the book she was reading, ignoring the sister. Huda got increasingly agitated by the second and started shouting, screaming and wailing. Farah remained cool, calm and collected. The wailing reached fever pitch and when my ears finally hit the threshold of pain, Huda got the bigger share of the scolding. Huda's response? "Farah always takes my things so that I get scolded for the rest of my life."

b. Huda is a law abiding citizen and gets upset when the sister does things which are socially unacceptable - like speaking at loud volumes. Farah has a naturally loud voice and it is quite a challenge for her to speak softly. She has been scolded numerous times for not using a lower volume. Her loud voice is always a source of pain for Huda and many, many quarrels result from Huda's failed attempts to make Farah speak softly. Huda's way of showing her anger at her sister involves pinching her or mouthing some banned words like "crazy" and "stupid". Farah would retaliate by shouting back at her sister - her speaking voice is already too loud; imagine her shouting voice. It's a miracle the neighbours had not complained to us about the noise we generate.

4. Kids Reading

The girls are avid readers. It's a good thing (sometimes). Whenever we go out, they will insist on bringing a book each. (Actually, they want to bring more but we don't allow them to. The bag will be too heavy.) Farah, at 5 years 3 months, is a fluent reader. Many times, quarrels between both girls break out because the older sister refuses to lend the younger one books she has borrowed from the school library. When they are not quarreling, they can sit down for hours reading one book after another. Often, this results in crying fits. They don't want to sleep because they want to read. Or they wake up too early in the morning and insist on switching on the light to read. Farah has been caught a couple of occasions reading by the bedroom window in the wee hours of the morning. We hope Ihsan will also be as voracious a reader as his sisters.

5. Huda's Progress

When Huda was born, her prematurity and low birth weight were major shocks for me. The more I read up, the more worrying it got. So many things could go wrong. The only solution lies in prayers. And effort. That was part of the driving force that strengthened my resolve to eliminate (now it's simply reduce; elimination is just not possible) screens in the first few years of her life. Another thing I did was to make sure that she had a good diet in her first few years. But she was such a picky eater in those first few years so all those salmon, kurau and cod that I regularly prepared for her ended up in my tummy instead.

Given this background, I am very proud of how far she has gone. Last year, she was a prize winner during the annual prize giving day. It was a prize for Malay Language. (Which actually is somewhat questionable considering her command of English is better than Malay.) But a prize is a prize and it should be commended. And last year also, she was nominated to be a prefect. This was amazing because she has always been very timid. (At the end of her K2 year, worried about her fear of public speaking, we talked about this with her neonatologist whom we still have to see annually. She suggested seeing a psychologist. Fortunately or unfortunately, the earliest psychologist appointment was on the first day of her P1 life. We didn't want her to miss such a momentous occasion so we decided to put the psychologist appointment on hold. Now, I can safely say that she no longer needs such an intervention. As long as Allah wills it, of course.)

 This year, she is tasked to lead the afternoon session pupils in pledge taking every
Wednesday. Imagine that. My premature little girl who used to have major problems with Show and Tell can now confidently stand on stage before all the P1 and P2 pupils.

6. Oven

I have a microwave-convection oven but the convection oven is only partially working. I can't set the temperature I want and I can only choose from three preset settings. That is terribly annoying. Last week, I went to Farha's house and she served the most delicious roasted chicken.  It is so delicious I couldn't stop thinking about it. As a result, I am going to get a proper oven. Now, I really really regret not having a built-in oven when we did our kitchen some 10 years ago.

Actually, we made some rather poor decisions when we renovated our flat before we moved in. That's why we are considering having a major renovation in 2 years or so, after HDB is done with the Home Improvement Programme. This is, provided, we still cannot find our dream home within the next few years. I'm hoping for us to move out because I cannot imagine the headache with renovating a flat we are presently living in. All the packing, having to move to a temporary location, choosing enough items to last us for that 2-month stay at the temporary location, then blah blah blah... you can imagine the headache involved. But, the problem is, that perfect unit is elusive. The one and only unit that spoke to us had been sold to someone else because Malays couldn't buy the unit. Boohooohooo.

Anyway. Coming back to the oven. Farha told me that I could buy a built-in oven and place it on the countertop cos some of these companies like Mayer can provide boxes for built-in units so that they don't look too strange sitting on the countertop. But, it might be a bit too big on the countertop. So, maybe I'll get a medium-size oven instead.

I fantasise about oven-baked chicken and chocolate chip cookies making regular appearances during my next round of unpaid leave.

I just hope that the oven does not become a white elephant.

7. Work

I think, after many, many years, I can safely say that I like my work. There are aspects that I don't enjoy, of course. But I love the core aspect of my work. And for that, I thank Allah for guiding me to this route. (It helps that I can take a few years off and still be assured of a job when I come back.)

---

That is all.