My "Thankful" List.

For my coming birthday, which is 8 days from today, I was thinking of creating a birthday wish list of things that I would love to receive on my birthday. Yes people, a big hint here. (wink,wink)

When I started to think of what I would like to have for my birthday, I find that making wish lists are an absolute waste of time. All it does is make a person so focused on what they would like to get/have that as a result, we fail to appreciate or be grateful/thankful for the things that we already have in our lives.

Being grateful or thankful should be part of our daily lives and not something that is being reserved for special occasions.

I’m definitely guilty of not being grateful/thankful on a daily basis. When I pray, all I ask from God is for things that I don’t have or to ask God to make things happen for me. I forgot to put in my prayers, words of gratitude for the life that God has bestowed upon me. Forgive me God.

Looking at my life now, I have so much to be thankful for.

I am thankful for my Darling Hubby. We'll be celebrating our 10 years of marriage next October. I don't know how he puts up with me at times but he does. I don't know what I'd do without him in my life. To my Darling Hubby, thank you for your constant love and support Sayang.

I am thankful for my pride and joy, my son Shafiq who is such a blessing. Since he came into our lives, eight years ago, our lives have been simply amazing. To my darling son, you complete both Daddy and Mommy. Love you.

I am thankful for my darling daughter Sara. Though she was only with us for the briefest of time, she taught me to be a more patient, forgiving and a better person. 

I am thankful for my Mom and both my sister and brother. I am so fortunate that they are my family. Though my Late Dad is no longer with us, I am so thankful for all the love that he showered upon me when he was still around.

I am thankful for Hubby's family. My FIL, my MIL, my 2 SILs' and my 3 BILs'. They have been such wonderful in-laws. 

I am thankful for my 3 darling nephews that keep me constantly entertained.

I am thankful for my extended family members. Aunts/Aunts In-Laws, Uncles/Uncles In-Laws and Cousins/Cousins In-Laws who makes life interesting for me.

I am thankful for the good friends that I have. Friends that stand by me, that supports me and who goes the extra mile for me. Thank you my dears. You know who you are.

I am thankful that Hubby is blessed with a good career which enable me to be a stay at home Mom and take care of our son, to have a beautiful home to live in, a good car to drive us around, enough money to buy the things we need or want and do the things we love doing.

Thank you God for all the above.

Missing My Boy.

It's the beginning of the year end school holidays and Shafiq has started the first week of school holidays by following his Opah (my Mom) back to KL for a week. With him being away, the house feels so empty and both Hubby and I have these huge aching feeling deep in our hearts that does not seem to go away. We miss our son terribly. 

Since he left for KL last Friday, we've been calling him constantly, ( a few times a day, actually) on the pretext of checking on him but in actual fact, we just wanted to hear his voice. He seems to be having a whale of a time with his Opah, Aunty Linda and Uncle Syahrul that both Daddy and Mommy think that he does not miss us at all. sob,sob...

Shafiq may be out of Mommy's sight at the moment but he's never out of Mommy's mind. Him being away from home for just a week, is already driving me crazy. How will I eventually cope when he leaves the nest some day? I hope and pray that day never comes. 

I don't ever want to experience the "empty nest syndrome". I know I'm being selfish here but I just can't help myself. I can't bear being away from my darling boy for far too long.

Too my darling Shafiq,

I hope you're missing me as much as I'm missing you. 

I'm counting the days till I get to hug and kiss you again.

Love, Mommy.

Excited.

Yes People! I'm extremely excited. My Mom & siblings will be making their way here tomorrow. The last time my family came down to Singapore was when I gave birth to Sara and that was more than a year ago. At that point in time, that particular visit was hinged with great sadness and despair, so this time around, no tears, only smiles and laughter to accompany them throughout their entire stay here with us.

Their trip this time around means a great deal to me as we won't be celebrating Hari Raya Haji (Eid al-Adha) alone by ourselves. As Hari Raya Haji falls on November 17, right in the middle of the week and is only a one day public holiday, we didn't see the point of going back to KL. So lucky for us, my Mom, sis and bro decided to come and celebrate Hari Raya Haji with us. Yeay!!!

Now, I've got to put on my "chef hat" and think about what to prepare for lunch tomorrow as they will be arriving here just in time for lunch. Thought of preparing chicken beriyani but then my Mom ni pulak jenis suka makan masakan kampung. My sis and bro, no problem, anything pun okay. 

Mmmm... nak masak apa ye? Maybe I should just bring them out to lunch at Hajah Maimunah Restaurant, a famous nasi padang place here in Singapore. 

Got to go. Have a relaxing Sunday you all! :D

Halloween Pics.

Hi People. I'm finally back home. Here are the pics from Halloween that was supposed to be uploaded this morning but I was unable to do so, no thanks to the failed server connection while using the free WIFI at Starbucks.

Mummy's little wizard in his Harry Porter costume.

(Check out the wand! Siap ada lampu lagi. hehehe)

Another "Harry Porter" pose.

 Shafiq posing with Daddy before 

he goes out "trick or treating".

Suasana kelam-kabut outside the Management office

while waiting for the arrival of other kids to kick start the "trick or treating".

A tired "Harry Porter" after he finished his "trick or treating" rounds.

(or was it a "sugar-high" Harry Porter?)

Mommy! Look at what I got!!!

Since I'm already posting Halloween pics, might as well share with you guys some pics from last year's Halloween as well.

Last year, father and son were in the their Star Wars phase.

Daddy accompanied Shafiq "trick or treating", so he was in costume as well.

The Jedi Master and his little Padawan.

(Complete with their lightsabers)

Mommy's little Padawan. 

He even had Darth Vader's "trick or treat" pail.

Mommy's little Padawan also had his own pod racer helmet.

Our home being invaded by the "trick or treaters" and their guardians.

Some even came inside. 

I had to bring in the potted plants outside my condo

and placed it under the piano as there were already a few broken pots, 

thanks to the super excited "trick or treaters".

(That's why this year, no more volunteering our place!)

There you have it folks, Halloween pics of 2009 and 2010. 

Got to go and prepare dinner as I have a movie date with Hubby tonight. Planning to watch Due Date which stars Robert Downey Jr, my favourite actor of all time. Hope the movie turns out great. But come to think of it, I'm yet to be disappointed with any of Robert Downey's movies. He's such a brilliant actor. (and gorgeous as well. :D)

Have a good weekend everybody.

Halloween.

Guess where am I at the moment?

At Starbucks in Parkway Parade, with my MacBook plugged to one of the electrical sockets, making full use of Starbucks's free WIFI while sipping my Ice Shaken Lemon Tea. 

What a poser, right? Yup, I agree. I selalu kutuk those people who bring their laptops to coffee joints so that they can enjoy the free WIFI by just buying one miserable drink and sitting there for hours and making it difficult for others who actually came for food and drinks to find available seats. 

But in my defense, I don't have a choice today. Shafiq has Kumon every Tuesdays and Friday mornings here in Parkway Parade. Usually while waiting for him to finish, I'll go for coffee with my fellow Malaysian friend Hwi Ling, whose son Nicholas also attends Kumon with Shafiq. However, since she's not around today, I'm all alone, so decided to bring my MacBook and do a bit of blogging. :D

In the midst of his end of year exams, Shafiq managed some time off from studying (and his Mommy's constant nagging, shouting and screaming asking him to study) to go "trick or treating" during Halloween recently. The residents of the condominium complex that we currently reside is made up of 80% expats, so a lot of "Mat Salehs". Therefore, the condo management organizes "trick or treating" for the kids on a yearly basis.

Kids get to dress up as any scary or cute characters of their choice and go "trick or treating" from condo to condo (only condos' that have volunteered to participate in the "trick or treating" i.e: you must be willing to buy lots of chocolates and candies to be given out to sugar high kids knocking on your door constantly.) We volunteered our place last year but decided to give it a rest this year and just register Shafiq to join the "trick or treating" with the rest of the kids at our condo.

Here are this year's Halloween pics of Shafiq. Let the pics tell the story.

Sorry Guys. Having problems uploading the pics. Waited so long for the pics to be uploaded but I kept getting "server error" notifications. Agaknya sebab guna WIFI free, kot???

Anyway, I've got to pick Shafiq. He should be done with his Kumon by now. I'll try to upload the pics later in the afternoon from home.

Ciao for now.

Note: Trick-or-treating is a customary practice for children on Halloween seen in many countries. Children in costumes, either in large groups or accompanied by an adult, travel from house to house in order to ask for treats such as candy (or, in some cultures, money) with the question "Trick or treat?". The "trick" is a (usually idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. (Info taken from Mr Wiki.)

TGEAO! (Thank God Exams Are Over)

I have been quiet as I have been busy.

Busy revising with Shafiq for his end of year exams. Alhamdullilah, when we got his results yesterday, Shafiq made both his parents proud by obtaining Band 1 for all his subjects. (Band 1 equivalent to an A). Alhamdullilah. Tidak sia-sia Sang Ibu menjerit bagai perempuan gila suruh sang anak belajar. Yes, I can be a terrifying Mommy when it comes to studies. 

Some say that I should not push Shafiq too much as he's only in Lower Primary. But the kids at his school seems super smart and when I talk to other parents, all they talk about are the extra enrichment classes that they send their kids to ensure they excel in academic and the hours they make their kids study at home, it got me scared. I don't want my son to be left behind. That was why prior to the exams, I made Shafiq study like there's no tomorrow. Bought all the revision workbooks for all subjects that I could find and sat down with Shafiq and made sure that he completed every single one. Even made him do mock exam exercises. Am I overdoing things? Sigh...

Anyway, thank God the exams are over and the holidays are just around the corner. Mommy's little baby deserves a good break after all the grueling hours put into studying prior to his exams. Come to think of it, Mommy needs a break as well. All those screaming and shouting has definitely taken a toll on my overall well being.

As the school holidays will begin on 20/11/2010 till the end of the year, it would be really nice if the family could go on a short holiday somewhere. However many of our friends and relatives have said that they want to come over to Singapore and put up at our place as they want to check out the X'mas decorations/lightings and X'mas sales here in Singapore. 

Looks like we can't go anywhere if we're gonna play hosts. Nampak gayanya, kita orang cuti-cuti Singapura ajelah this time around.

p/s: I would like to give a big thank you shout out to all of the following for their kind and beautiful words in my previous entry:

• Cosmic GurL of Sher's Sheer Thoughts
• Ayu of Ayu The Sun
• Nita of My Odessey
• KaiserSoze of Life's Little Footprints
• Zaza of Little Castle
• FrH of Amazing Amazon