Unconditional love

Coming home to see these cute little faces has always been great. These 2 little people love each other's company very much. I really hope that they will grow & love their bond forever. Seeing them playing, laughing & share everything together always makes me smile. Now that adik talks so much, the conversation becoming more interesting. Sometimes abang asked for adik's opinion upon constructing a lego structure & adik will answer ... haa, ya..ya..! So funny!

Mr. Hubby loves to call adik chipmunk as adik sounds like one. But, since we seldom let them watched TV (except for Disney Junior sometimes), she has no clue what chipmunk is!

Abang, being a responsible brother could now be relied on to take care of his adik. He can help adik put on her pants, hold the cup when adik wants to drink, get something in the fridge for adik. Though adik is a little bit tough, abang still can handle her.

Abang & adik, mummy & papa hope that you will always be there for your family. Be a strong man, faithful to Allah & responsible in every way you are going to be directed to. Your journey is still far beyond...may Allah S.W.T. blessed you all the way...amin..

Kain, gunting & mesin jahit

Sejak beberapa tahun ni, banyak sangat kain-kain cotton yang saya beli. Maklumlah...english cotton kan famous lately ni. Dalam kepala ni macam-macam nak buat especially sejak anak dara dah besar. Bukan apa, sometimes bila ke kedai nak cari dresses yang menepati citarasa susah sangat. Alih-alih pattern yang sama cuma beza corak or jenis kain jer.

To be honest, saya jarang shopping baju anak-anak. What I usually did is, kumpul duit & tunggu the high end brands buat sale. Masa ni la saya shopping cukup setahun punya stok. It is worth the wait. Tak kisah lah the items are off season pun. Janji cantik & menepati citarasa. My first choice has always been GAP (been thinking to start buying from oversease through Hop-Shop-Go...tengoklah macamana).

Anyway, back to the title. I have been planning to sew a dress for Amani myself & I choose bubble dress for the purpose (ambitious kan? hahaha). Disebabkan gelojoh sangat nak cepat siap, saya tak jahit tepi pun (lagipun jahitan semua tersorok dalam lining). So...here is the result.

 

 

Amani wore it to a kenduri last Sunday & she loved it a lot. Hahaha...bravo mummy! Still...ada la jahitan yang tunggang terbalik since this is my first try for a dress. Well...this is a new beginning for me. Hopefully I will continue with more sewing project.

 

Err...tutorial?  Maybe we start with something easier.

An Ordinary Life

Waking up at 12.20 am after falling asleep in my children's bedroom...I can't put myself back to sleep. Looking into my phone, there's this message from my husband, giving a link to an extraordinary view regarding the recent tragedy of MH370. I'm not going to discuss the link here, it's just makes me think how our point of view does change when something far from ordinary comes across our mind.

Lately, I could not really focus on my work. When I was at work all I could think of is my family. Being a working lady, time is my worst enemy. Out to work at the wee hours with children to send to school & day care, making me so stressful especially to arrive at work on time. When I reached home from work, it has always been dark. I have only 3 hours to prepare dinner, cater to the husband & children's need, settling the house chores before putting the children to sleep (which will usually take longer time). I have no time to actually play with them (which I know that it is something they enjoyed the most). When you're to tired to entertain them, the anger came in.

Amani is just a 2 years & 4 months old toddler that really needs attention. Being the playful one, she always making me tired with the water spilled, biscuits crumbed scattered everywhere in the house and some of her request that makes me moving around the house restlessly. Sometimes I do scold her because of small things. And then, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling bad. She just wants her mummy to cuddle her & play around with her. She is such an angel with her soft voice saying 'hi, mummy!' whenever she sees me (she would never let me out of her sight). She always says sorry for small mistakes such as when she accidentally step on her brothers's toys or when she spilled something on my laminated floor. I love the tone. I love the smell of her curls & chubby cheeks. It is painful to see her crying every time I sent her to day care.

Izzat, being a responsible & well-mannered child always there for her sister. Izzat has a very good discipline. He kept his promise well (if he promised to watch 2 tv programmes, he will stick to 2, nor more or less unless we give him permission). Looking at him, I always wanted him to be my baby forever. I want him to be a good muslim & turn only to Allah S.W.T. & us his parents for guidance & advise when he grew up. I really hope that he won't put his friends first. But, how can I do that if I do not have time to sit with him listening to his problems & be with him through thick & thin?

Well...a friend of mine (who is famously known as an attention seeker) once told me that an ordinary person should never be a blogger. If your life is just about your children, family & food, it's boring & no one would read your blog. Wow...I found it quite harsh friend. A blog could be somebody's something. It could be an open journal to record his/her life journey, so that one day it could be read by his/her future generation. An open secret that you hope will soon be discovered by someone it meant for. I believed, everyone could write whatever they want.

I get different kinds of feedback when I told people that I plan to quit my job in less then 2 years time. Some are very supportive & some are not as they think letting go of my current job is a not a good decision. That is why I am preparing myself for physically, emotionally & financially. Those career woman who actually quit their 5 figures salary is my hero now. If they can do it,why can't I?

These days, I always picture myself as a SAHM. I dreamed of having my own garden, preparing meals for my family & managing the house in my own time. And most importantly...I will have more time to prepare myself for the hereafter. Nothing can beat the satisfaction I guess.

Anyway, coming back to the post title...nothing is wrong to look at things ordinarily sometimes. Be focused & lived it.

Ya Allah, permudahkanlah urusanku...Amiin...

Saya Nak Bagi...'Pay It Forward'

On 25th January 2014, a friend of mine write a status about 'pay it forward'. She offered the first 5 commenters who comented "I'm in" on the status a surprise gift. However, the 5 commenters must extend the 'pay it forward' spirit by offering another 5 people the same thing. Without any hesitation, I commented on her status...but...not with the intention to be indulged with gifts. The reason why I commented is because I like the spirit. Recently, I have also watched a video shared on FB which shows similar spirit.

I'm not sure if any of you have actually come across a movie called Pay It Forward filmed based on a novel with the same title. The movie was out in 2000, and here is the synopsis :-

When eleven and a half year old Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) begins seventh grade in Las Vegas, Nevada, his social studies teacher Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey) gives the class an assignment to devise and put into action a plan that will change the world for the better. Trevor's plan is a charitable program based on the networking of good deeds. He calls his plan "Pay It Forward", which means the recipient of a favor does a favor for three others rather than paying the favor back. However, it needs to be a major favor that the receiver can't complete themselves.

Trevor does a favor for three people, asking each of them to "pay the favor forward" by doing favors for three other people, and so on, along a branching tree of good deeds. His first good deed is to let a homeless man named Jerry (Jim Caviezel) live in his garage, and Jerry pays the favor forward by doing car repairs for Trevor's mother. Trevor's efforts appear to fail when Jerry relapses into drug addiction, but Jerry pays his debt forward later by talking to a suicidal woman, who is about to jump off the bridge.

Meanwhile, Trevor's mother Arlene (Helen Hunt) confronts Eugene about Trevor's project after discovering Jerry in their house. Trevor then selects Eugene as his next "pay it forward" target and tricks Eugene and Arlene into a romantic dinner date. This also appears to fail until Trevor and Arlene argue about her alcoholism and she slaps him in a fit of anger. The two adults are brought together again when Trevor runs away from home and Arlene asks Eugene to help her find him.
After finding Trevor, Arlene begins to pursue Eugene sexually. Eugene has deep burn marks visible on his neck and face, and he initially resists Arlene's overtures out of insecurity. When they finally sleep together, he is seen to have extensive scarring all over his torso.

Arlene accepts Eugene's physical disfigurement and forms an emotional bond with him, but quickly abandons their relationship when her alcoholic ex-husband Ricky (Jon Bon Jovi) returns to her, claiming to have given up drinking. Ricky's return and Arlene's acceptance of it angers Eugene, whose own mother had a habit of taking his abusive, alcoholic father back. When Arlene attempts to explain to him that she believes Ricky has changed for good, he explains that his father intentionally burned him by knocking him unconscious and pouring gas over him, berating Arlene for being "one of those women" and warns her of Ricky's potential to abuse Trevor. When Ricky drinks again and resumes his abusive behavior, Arlene realizes her mistake and forces him to leave.

Trevor's school assignment marks the beginning of the story's chronology, but the opening scene in the film shows one of the later favors in the "pay it forward" tree, in which a man gives a car to Los Angeles journalist Chris Chandler (Jay Mohr). As the film proceeds, Chandler traces the chain of favors back to its origin as Trevor's school project. After her date with Eugene, Arlene paid Jerry's favor forward by forgiving her own mother, Grace (Angie Dickinson), for her mistakes in raising Arlene, and Grace, who is homeless, helps a gang member escape from the police. The gang member then saves a girl's life in a hospital, and the girl's father gives Chandler his new car.

Chandler finally identifies Trevor as the originator of "pay it forward" and conducts a recorded interview in which Trevor describes his hopes and concerns for the project. Eugene, hearing Trevor's words, realizes that he and Arlene should be together. As Eugene and Arlene reconcile with a passionate embrace, Trevor notices his friend Adam being bullied by gangster-like kids. He pays it forward to Adam by rushing into the scene and fighting the bullies while Eugene and Arlene rush to stop him. One of the bullies takes a switchblade out of his pocket. Trevor is then accidentally pushed into the knife and is stabbed in the abdomen. Trevor consequently dies at the hospital. This news is reported on television; Arlene and Eugene are soon visited by hundreds of people who have participated in the "Pay It Forward" movement by gathering in a vigil to pay Trevor their respects.

(Source: WikiPedia )
Have we ever noticed that doing good to others will actually make our day?

Well, I think it is time for me to see things differently now. It is no point for me to be annoyed by ill-mannered people around me or being offended when my so called best friends are no more acting like best friends & etc.. Let's do some changes in life.

Therefore, I would really like to offer the same 'Pay-it-forward' spirit & my friendship to any 5 of my dear readers who willing to drop their comments in my comment box. Be it where ever you are. Here are guides for you :-

1. Leave your comments on this post together with your email address
2. Take pictures of my surprise gift to you & write a special post on how would you like to extend this 'pay-it-forward' spririt to your readers.
3. Put a link to my blog in your post so that I could pay you a visit.
*But if you do not have your own blog, you could spread the spirit through other social media, be it FB, instagram etc.