To Florida We're Going...

Hence, this blog will be on sleep mode until I return.

Packing for the family gets easier now when the kids are older. They can pick out their own clothes to wear and shoes that they think they might need when they get there.

Took me only 30 minutes to pack the suitcase…on my part. Any tank tops, summer skirts, dresses and t shirts go into the suitcase. A pair of slippers, strappy ones for the wedding and tennis shoes for when I do my daily exercise are already in there. My kebaya will go in last, since it has been pressed, I shall spread it in the suitcase so that it will have minimal crease.

Bapak has arrived, he is doing his activities as usual…of pampering the kids, and enjoying the neighborhood when the kids are in school. He has requested that rice is a mandatory existance at mealtimes. So we have to buy rice (yup, we have all have been on a no rice diet!).

Dad in law, on the other hand, has been calling almost everyday to ensure that our preparations are on time, so that we won't forget anything, and that we have enough decent wear for the dinner rehearsal, the night before the actualy wedding. He's also getting as excited as we are. I am sure even the grannies' pug (the dog) is also as excited as the grannies.

Thank you in advance to Sam and Lilac to be so kind as to giving us a ride to the SJ Airport and back. We owe you big time!

Pictures will follow….

So there, update of this blog before we all leave…so long!

Pediatrician Office Saga

Something rare happened yesterday.

I had to take the daughter to the pediatrician as she has been getting this weird 'itchy scratchy' spasms which last only 10 seconds each time. So I called the pediatric office 2 days before the appointment.

Myrna, the nurse : 'So, new patient, first time coming to this office.' (we just changed medical insurance plan).

Ely the mom : 'Yes'

Myrna : 'Which Dr would you like to see? We have 5 Drs, Dr Ananda, Dr Chin, Dr Cliff, blah blah blah'…literally.

Ely : 'Well, you know, this is my first time bringing my daughter. Could you recommend me one?'

Myrna : 'Hmmm, we don’t recommend Drs, you know what I mean. But I can help you choose…Dr Ananda is Asian, Dr Chin is Chinese Asian, Dr Cliff is White, blah blah blah'

Ely already laughing : 'Girl, you are so funny! Your description is way beyond your call of duty! But hmmm, Dr Ananda sounds good'

Myrna laughing : 'Ely, you're giving me problem here, now you want me to choose the Dr for you. OK Dr Ananda, but wait! What kind of asian are you? Filipino? Chinese? Indonesian?'

Ely : 'INDONESIAN? How did you know that I am one? OK, Dr Ananda then.'

Yes, my Singapore ID indicates that I am indonesian. It does not make sense as it does not describe ethnicity but more like nationality. But I do know dang well that my parents are Jawa Peranakan (hehehe).

So to the Dr we went. Met Dr Ananda, nice beautiful, big eyes and very very friendly. She could not diagnose the little lady as the itchy scratchy was not flaring when we were in the Dr's office. She asked the little lady tonnes of questions, from her habits to her food to her puberty etc etc. Then the Dr gave her some anti allergy toiletries for her to use as step one.

When the consultation was over, I asked her what ethnicity she was. She said that she is indonesian. So I told her that I am malay, but says indonesian on my ID. My great grannies were from Java and my parents could speak some javanese words but not me. That was enough to trigger her jump for joy….'ahhhhh, a fellow man' kind of joy, you know what I mean? Then we started talking…in english, as she speaks only splatters of Bahasa, that did not deter her from giving me a hug before I left the office.

It was a nice visit, a meaningful visit to the pediatrician. Went home, let the husband know what happened and he was amazed…its so rare to find someone who comes from my little island or somewhere close to it in our everyday lives. But when we do, we tend to stick together. Like the Indonesian Consular employee who still calls me for advise on her insurance and the Singapore Consular who calls to make changes on their insurance in exchange for some immigration questions I have hehehe. I do get Singaporean and Malaysian customers visiting me at the office just to say hello or just to say that they're in town.

Isn't that nice? Something that we totally take for granted when we're back home.

Isn't it Sunday?

The husband : 'Ely wake up, its 6am!'
Me : 'Why are you waking me up so erly? Its Sunday!'
The husband : 'OK, go back to bed then.'

Then I heard the daughter in the shower humming away…darn it! So it IS MONDAY! Eeeeeeeeeee, liat betul nak bangun nih. Should I call in sick? Cos I really am SICK and tired of working. How I wish I could just stay home and go to work when I am ready (like the husband) or not even come in just cos its Monday!

Consolation to me, boss is in Sacramento on site visit, he will still be there tomorrow for a class, including the other assistant managers. So at least I will have time to write this entry muahahhahahaha.

So…update on looking for a bigger house to move. We have cancelled the idea as we have decided to improve the condition of this 80 year old house. There is a detached structure at the backyard that we do laundry in hence, its called the laundry house. We have decided to move the laundry facilities to the garage downstairs and make that a room/house/pad for the son. Sounds easy? Not really, firstly, we have to shell out at least $1.5k to reverse the laundry piping to the garage (that’s from 'up the hill motion' to 'down the hill motion;, house is on the hill remember!), then we have to move the washer and dryer down the flights of stairs and into the garage, as we all know that the washer and dryer are not feather weight japanese branded ones. Then we need to paint the inside of the little house, redo the floor and buy furniture for him. And we also have to make sure that the skunks are fully moved from under that laundry house.

So when the son is out of the kids' room, the daughter deserves for the bunk bed to be out, and get her a new set of furniture. They're still arguing on who will get the computer.

After that will be the main house's improvement. We have decided to change the floor, from the wall to wall carpet to hard wood laminate flooring. With the weather so damp and 7 cats in and out of the house, the musty and kitty smell in the house has not been kind to us. The kitchen might get a new kind of flooring as well….all DIY…hey, welcome to America where you do things YOUSELF! Oh and don’t forget the doors. We need to change the doors too.

Landscaping will be the pain in the a*s for us. The front yard is somewhat OK…full turf. But the driveway needs to be patched up. The backyard and the terrace needs 200% tender loving care. You see, we live on a slope. When it rains, the soil runs down bypasses our house and down to the driveway. So we're thinking of how to tackle this 'soil sliding' dilemma. Tuh lah, nak tinggal kat atas bukit, tapi tak tau camner nak handle hehehe.

So that’s our agenda for the year 2006.

*ooopss, I better remind the husband to replace that dead dishwasher!*

Bapak.....and Mak

Bapak has volunteered to housesit when the family goes to Florida for a week. Since he is going to be here for a month, he says that he would love to housesit and roam the city by himself when we're not around. This would not be his first visit to San Francisco…more like 6th-7th time I think?

So bapak will be coming on the 28th, 3 days before we head to the Sunshine State. And then something hit me…as much as I am so looking forward to seeing bapak again, he is coming without Mak. And then it hit me again…that I miss Mak. I miss her so much that when I was thinking of her on my way to work that I got so teary eyed. Maybe cos Bapak said that Mak would be making pineapple tarts for us and maybe some homemade cookies…priceless gifts!

I wish that Mak would come along with Bapak on this trip, but Mak is still busy working (cos she loves working!). She says that she is saving money for my kids when they go there for the summer…and for us when we get there. Not that I am expecting the parents to pay for our every expense, but I am just letting the parents do what they wanna do…to feel important.

So Mak, if you're reading this, anak Mak sayang dan rindukan ibunya. Mak selalu di ingatan kami. Oh dan terima kasih atas kueh tart yang akan diterima hehehe.

Salad, bikini and Florida...

Rabbit food…another word for salad, as per my co workers. The people in my office still cannot get use to me eating huge salad for lunch everyday…yes everyday. Rarely do they see me eat real food like baked fish or tuna melt (hmmm tuna melt sounds good to me!).

I told them that I do not torture myself to eat salad everyday. It just became a habit for me to eat salad for lunch, so that I can eat real food for dinner. It is also to discipline myself, to ensure that I get enough vegetables everyday. Even my friends like Ayu and Lilac know that I am eating normal…right?

No, I don’t feel that I am skinny yet. No , I have not gone mental yet either and no…I am not an anorexic in denial. I still have at least 10 more stubborn lbs to go before I reach my goal. With the holidays recently, I could admit that I ate carbs that I wasn’t suppose to. Thank goodness with daily 400 calories exercise has managed to make me lose more weight instead of gaining the carbs.

Now that the Florida trip is just around the corner and the wedding will be at the beach resort, all the more I feel that I need to lose even more so that number 1, I could eat more at the wedding and number 2, so that I could slip myself into that bikini...eh no..summer clothes.

I think I have lost that tropical sense of fashion, of not layering myself, but am sure it will slowly come back. The malls here have not gotten their spring collection out yet, so capris and t shirts are not selling yet. But I do have a batik sundress for the tropical weather and the slippers too (Ely doesn’t need help looking for sandals for the beach!).

Then the make up…according to theory, we should change our makeup every 6 months. I am overdue for the change, but just looking for the right time to do so…like now! I know I need a baby blue shadow for the eyes, and more shadow colors. Pink shadow is the in thing now, and don’t forget that green! And then also might need new lipstick colors.

And the list goes on….

Luh ker gua yang gila?

When you are all by yourself, not reading a book, not watching tv and your husband is asleep (for those who are married lah), have you ever laid in bed and thought about yourself? Not the ah beng that pushed you on the bus, not that stupid female naggy boss or that blogger who was talking about nothing but her holiday in the carribean...but yourself?

What comes into your mind about yourself? Do you love yourself today? Is it cos you completed that project timely and then have enough time to blog? Or that you might have made a change to someone's life or just simply that you have felt the satisfaction of being a mom? Have you ever hated yourself on that day? Did you say something stupid to someone who are not talking to you now? Or did you have a fight with your other half over something so silly?

Overall...on most days, do you love yourself more than the other way round? If you do why?

Or do you really hate yourself now and are in desperate need to change youself for the better?

Sorry, I know that I have been asking a lot of questions. This is how I sound when I am thinking aloud.

Call me selfish, but I love thinking about myself. On how I feel about myself lately and how I could make myself better if I hated myself on that day.

Many a days, I always come home feeling nothing but mentally tired. If I get overly stressed about work on that day, I would work the cr*p out of myself on that stepper or go for 15 minutes walks on breaks. If I feel satisfied with work, I would still feel tired...but in a better mood when I see the family. But please, these moods DO NOT include PMS!

I remember a friend who hated herself so much a few years ago that she shaved her head bald! I thought she was kidding until she showed me her 'gondol' picture. Kesian budak tuh, but her hair has grown (after a few years) and even has the length to do 'rebonding' hehehe...if you are reading this my friend, jangan marah! But she did tell me that she felt so much better after the 'botak' ing incident.

One therapeutic way of destressing (besides retail therapy) , are my cats. They purr when they ask for attention, they give me body massages when they purr to show love to their mommy. How nice eh?

Did you know that I just adopted a Siamese Fighting Fish since December to keep me sane in the office? I have not named him yet...maybe Kenny (like in South Park...'Who killed Kenny!') or maybe Samdol...I don't know, but he sure has given me the 'hope' of staying sane while at work. I am not going to buy that Zen thingy that you can put on your desk, raking the sand and putting shells into the miniature pail and imagine that you're at the beach and then voila! you will feel better....cos my co worker has it. All I need to do is to just to to her office, and start picking shells and rake the sand on her desk!

Any therapeutic ideas on how to stay sane?

The 'take a breather' entry...

Work has not been that kind to me lately. Well...I am glad that my boss is back from his military duty in the gulf….but I was not glad when he decided to swap offices with another lady assistant manager and me, stuck here on the 2nd floor.

Work has not changed a bit here. I still handle his projects, coordinate his calendar and his other nitty gritty stuff. Its just harder assisting him when we're geographically on different floors. The stupid intercom keeps beeping more now. The msn messenger (we use that for the office) keeps dinging with messages from him and my inbox is getting more of his emails…drives me nuts cos now I even have to leave him voicemails to keep in touch with him apart from having to run to the 1st floor almost every 2 hours.

Since the boss was away for 4 months, it was catch up time for him…and me…ripple effect. On Monday, my workload was virtually drowning me beyond believe, on Tuesday, the workload did not subside but the tide seemed to get higher. Wednesday, the boss had to scope office space for the move and phew…4 hours of him being away from the office helped me cut my workload in half.

And then back to the 2nd floor, the 2 lady assistant managers…both in their 50s. One has a major power trip and the other, major tensed up attitude. I hear them bicker over little issues like where to bring the sales reps for lunch, which restaurant and where to put that stupid cabinets. As we all know, ladies want their say in anything, which I totally back off from all these bickerings.

One even went beyond her call of duty by asking me every minute on what I was doing. But Ely fixed that pretty quickly (don’t ask me what I did cos this entry would not end).

Anyway, right now, I am just taking some deep breaths by writing this. The sun is shining…good time for a good walk during lunch!

Those in the US, happy long Martin Luther King weekend!

Sleepovers...

Last weekend was our turn to host Masturah's sleepover night since she has been going to her friends' houses for Saturday night sleepovers. Managed to 'move' the son to his friend's house so that the girls could have more space without the 'male invasion'.

Little did I know that girls can be such picky eaters. No one protested when we ordered pizza, I mean, which kid does not like pizza? Then came dessert time…the husband suggested that we go out (in the cold) and get dessert with the girls. 3 girls, 2 wanted Krispie Kreme, 1 wanted Starbucks (cant resist that blended crème). After much loud giggly arguments, majority wins…donuts at 9pm.

By the time it was 10pm, 'the parents' (that’s us) were dead beat. The girls must have had the sugar rush from them donuts, still giggly, screaming and talking in the other room. I told them,'We're going to bed now. Do whatever you want, just don’t burn the house down and STAY QUIET!'. They did pretty well as I fell asleep right through the night and did not hear the kids blowing up their beds at 12:30 in the morning!

Then came breakfast…2 wanted pancakes, 1 doesn’t like pancakes. So scrambled eggs and a lil bit of meat for the picky eater and pancakes for the rest.

It was overall a very pleasant weekend with the girls, first time having the more than 1 of the kids' friends staying over. I am sure that when we move, the kids will be at our place more often that I can imagine!

The year Two Thousand and Six...

'Happy New Year & Welcome Back…it is a start of the new year. Thank you for the successful 2005. Our region has reached its goal and I am looking forward to 2006. More new good things will happen as we go along. New products, new offices in San Francisco and Redwood City and new training programs for our sales section.'…so says our Regional Director.

There will be so much changes in 2006. Work wise, our big office will split into 5 different offices in San Francisco. Major changes will happen. Personal wise, maybe more than we expect. We're still looking for that house to upgrade into. Maybe some new edition to the family after that? I don’t know…time surely is running out.

Not much of resolution here for me. Maybe lose that 13 more lbs that I am still working on (good God! The holidays have been the biggest killer), make more $$ and save more, lower that outstanding credit and be a better mom and wife.

The kids are teenagers now and I feel that this year will be a year full of surprises, especially when the son goes to high school in September and the daughter in middle school. More changes in their social life…or my co worker says, they have a 'social calendar' now.

Somehow or rather, I can sense that the husband and I have earned our 'dating time' back since the kids have sleepovers almost every weekend nights. What is dating to us? Hmmm, let me think hard….

So far, we have gone to rock concerts. We also go to dinner and sometimes just dinner at home, just the 2 of us…and the cats. No wailings of 'Ibu..' every now and then or words like 'be quiet you!' or 'I'll tell on you…IBU!!!'.

The kids have grown into little friends to me. A personal confidante to the girl and a 'supervisor' (as he calls me) to the boy. They still love me being around them and fooling around with them as much as I love their presence.

I am so not looking forward to them being young adults and then move away to college.

Oh, and not forgetting the jewish wedding in 4 weeks! The sister in law is getting married and we're still busy preparing for the trip. As we all know, visiting in laws is not like going on vacation (you can look ratty when you're on vacation but not when you meet in laws!). But I sure am going to enjoy this trip and the wedding of the year!

Perempuan melayu terakhir...

'Will the last malay lady please bring the malay flag!!!', that was what my husband said when I told him that a childhood friend got married yesterday, to a British dude.

You see, when I married my husband, I was not the first one to be married to a foreigner. I had 4 other immediate cousins who were 'speculated' closely by my relatives for marrying americans/british or someone from a faraway continent. And the practice didn't stop there, one cousin after another were migrating to either the US, Australia or the UK to be with their husbands.

Since I married the husband 4 years back, my mom has been this 'confidante' about how to handle emotions when their daughters were to go away. What if their daughters marriages don't work... and other 'what ifs' yang sewaktu dengannya. I am happy that my mom shares her experiences with her friends and relatives and gives advises to those who were as nervous as her when their daughters say that they wanted to marry a non malay.

One of the theory that she came up (and told me too) was that malay young ladies are now more educated, they have higher demands and are more independent. Internet has made anything possible and love can blossom from the internet, just be prepared if your young lady is at that legal age of marriage and all of a sudden you daughter is ready to move away. Never expect that to come out of my mom eh? And get this, my mom surely did not behave that way when I was the one doing it years back!

So anyway, back to the first paragraph, my husband says that foreigners like him has 'saturated' the malays and he is one of the guilty ones!