Mama(n)datory

No, you don't encounter chicken pox for 30 years.
My husband - now at 30+ years old, just gotten his chicken pox virus.

Nak gelak jahat, tak boleh. Nak kesian pun, everyone will get it at least once in their life.

Of course, you usually get it once at a young age, rarely later. Afterall it'll heal faster and better then comparable to your current being with lower-level of antibody and collagen; ambil masa lah sikit nak baik kesan-kesan parut cacar air tu.

That's what he thought. He thought he had it once, but turns out it was just measles then and not chicken pox. People seems to confuse between those two anyway. Hadap je lah gatal-gatal tu sekarang.

You can't escape it I guess. That's how important vaccination is nowadays; if you couldn't avoid the sickness completely at least you could lower the level of severity. Prevention is always better than cure. So do your part and get vaccinated, especially the younger generations - your kids.

My two girls have completed their vaccination course (toddlers' one). But that doesn't mean they are free of any illness, I know at least they're vaccinated from the worse. Whatmore with their own father who's suffering the pox now, I just had to bring the two girls away from him for some time while he is currently away at his mom's until he is fine and dandy again.

I did have the thought of "alang-alang seorang dah kena, baik kena terus kat anak-anak, sekali harung jaga". Ya Allah, bad of me for having that thought. Istighfar banyak-banyak. Hence, the strict separation.

Not that I don't or won't care for my husband, it's just better this way.
One, taknak anak-anak berjangkit; a little separation is best.
Two, his mom has the time to care for him better compare to myself who's busy managing the two girls every minute.

Hope he gets better soon. In shaa Allah.

Who doesn't love kuih talam?
...my husband.

For real, dude. He's a cake guy (or any orang putih punya dessert) and never a kuih/bubur pengat kind-of-guy. Mayesa follows suit.

I, on the other hand, loveeeeee kuih and pengat. So does my second-born, Sofia.
So whenever I feel like having some, I'd buy few pieces(which does not taste good-some of it-compare to it's price) or I just whip up some on my own.

People might think it is hard work, and I used to think the same too. Tapi percayalah, once you start doing one, you'd be doing more. Tak susah, trust me.

Today, I made kuih seri muka enough for our family of 4 (although only Sofia and I will be eating it, and maybe Mayesa will have some of just the glutinous rice base). A simple and quick do, by only using the rice cooker.

I did not take a step-by-step picture, but here's the recipe that I used if you'd like to give it a try.
*This is a quick recipe, hence the easy-ingredients. Jangan pula ada yang kecam sebab tak pakai air perahan pandan ke apa. By all means if you have the time and want a nicer pandan taste/color, you may use the original air perahan pandan and ignore the kaya spread & coloring*

For the base:
1 cawan beras pulut
1 cawan santan
Garam secukup rasa

For the top (custard-like):
1 cawan santan
1/2 cawan gula (boleh kurangkan kalau taknak manis sangat sebab ada campur kaya spread)
2 sudu besar kaya spread
2 sudu besar tepung
1 biji telur
Garam
Titis pewarna

Method:
1. Basuh beras pulut sampai bersih.
2. Masukkan santan dan garam. Masak dalam rice cooker sehingga pulut lembut. (Boleh tambah air sikit kalau agak-agak santan dah kering tapi pulut tak cukup masak).
3. Pindahkan pulut yang dah masak ke dalam loyang (tekan dan ratakan) untuk dikukus dengan lapisan custard. (I only use a 5 or was it 6inch loyang je for this recipe).
4. Using just a blender, sebatikan bahan-bahan untuk lapisan custard.
5. Tapiskan dan tuang bahan custard tadi ke atas lapisan pulut di dalam loyang.
6. Kukus lebih kurang 20-30minit dalam rice cooker. Siap!

Easy peasy.
Try it.

Today I made it in PINK!

"Mayesa  tertarik keluar banyak sangat baby wipes and I can't put it back inside. Can you please help me?"

"Mama, Mayesa promise tak buat dah mengamuk cry taknak mandi masa mama suruh macam tadi. I promise. Sorry."

"Thank you for the drink mama tapi Mayesa tertumpah air kat baju sebab minum tak duduk elok-elok. Just a little bit. Kejap lagi Mayesa tukar baju lain and put this in laundry ok"

My heart melts. Proud, nevertheless.

The husband sees it as the other way around, though.
"Dia takut je bila buat salah sikit mesti dia minta maaf. You garang sangat dengan dia kot".

Excuse me. That's discipline, and manners. She knows her please, thank you and sorry. Bukannya dia takut. Yes, I am guilty of scolding and punishing her for her wrongdoings at times. Garang bertempat and within limits. I just had to. To mould, to educate. She's aware of what can or can not be done now.

I repeat. Bukannya dia takut kena marah. In fact, I can now keep my cool better bila dia pandai bezakan salah dan betul, baik dan buruk etc. Yang penting, dia express herself dan tak berselindung.

I repeat.
My heart melts.
She's moulding well into a great person.
Inshaa Allah.

Tonight I just saw  a boy who spilled  a spoonful of ice cream onto the floor. Mata menjeling rasa-rasa mak dia tak perasan, he wiped it off with his barefeet then wiped his feet off the rug. Guess what, his mom was aware of it and he got scolded for his action.

Itu baru takut.
Takut kena marah, dia sorokkan kesalahan dia.
Lagi bertambah kena marah, siap kena pukul.
Tapi marah semata-mata sebab lap aiskrim dengan kaki, tapi tak pula tegurkan ajar adab makan tu duduk elok-elok supaya tak comot tumpah, and manners especially. Jadi budak tu tak aware pon adab makan elok-elok.

Mayesa is aware of her right and wrong doings, sengaja atau tak sengaja, and immediately  express her gratefulness or apologizes for it.
Pandai bersyukur dan tak sembunyikan kesalahan.
Discipline and manners.

Yes, discipline and manners.
That's what lacking in today's society.

Kalau dah kata budak-budak sekarang perhimpunan sekolah kena duduk atas jalan tar pon sekolah kena saman; anak-anak bunuh anak orang lain pon disalahkan anak yang dibunuh je dan yang membunuh tu anak yang baik; anak-anak taknak dengar ditegur jangan balik rumah lewat malam pon mak bapak boleh putus asa dan taknak didenda sikit pon; kalau cikgu marah sebab kelaku tak baik kat sekolah pon habis cikgu dihentam dan mak bapak datang terajang cikgu..

Who is really at fault here?
Salah mak bapak tak membentuk dan mendidik.
Takutkan sangat dengan anak tu macam anak tu lah raja, anak tu lah segala-galanya. Turutkan semua kehendak anak sebab malas layankan perangai anak yang macam-macam bila tak diturutkan kehendak dia.

Salah konsep. Lepas tangan parenting responsibilities namanya tu.
May I ask again, so who is at fault here when the child behaves badly?

I know I've done something right here.

Sidenote: Don't criticize my method of disciplining my children. You may not agree on even a little scolding or even slightest punishment towards your child, I may not even agree on you baby-ing your child the whole way. To each its own. Tapi anak-anak jadi apa kemudian hari, reflects back to what we have done to help them throughout their life journey.

I repeat : again, I know I've done something right.

I felt good and much calmer coming back into my role as a mother of two after my trip to Ipoh the other day. These past couple of days caught me browsing onto few travel websites since I am longing for another quick getaway planned on my birthday.

The last time I went for a facial was 6 years ago which was then part of my bridal preps. I was not even a constant facial-goer prior to that, maybe urmmm once a year?

I've been longing to go for a session ever since I've delivered my second-born. Now that she's turning almost two and has finally weaned, I finally made myself go to one (and hopefully to make it a monthly routine now onwards).

Since I didn't know what is good or where is best to go, I decided to give it a try by buying vouchers through Fave (previously known as Groupon). Cheapo? I mean why not..for a trial session before I can decide for the best. Afterall, I do not want to waste by spending few hundreds just for a trial and not liking it at the end of the day, so Fave it is.


It's quite time-consuming browsing through Fave. Not that the site isn't user-friendly, it is. It's just that you could easily get sidetracked just by browsing through the available discounted products and services on the site. I was literally browsing through each and every offers available under the Beauty, Massage and Eat categories although my initial plan was just to browse for facials. Thank god I finally made myself to decide on one facial offer, and nothing else.

I bought my voucher for a facial at Aesthetics Skin And Body Care located in USJ 9, Subang Jaya.

I booked my appointment to be on the next day. So tak sabar kan?

I was well greeted by the staff even though I arrived early for my appointment. I was then ushered into the treatment room just minutes after by my beautician whom I couldn't recall what her name was, but she was so nice and friendly that made me feel totally calm in the treatment room (except during extraction of course which wasn't too bad either. To be honest, she totally know what she was doing and have seriously done a great job!)




Here's what I got for my treatment:
Double cleanse - milk & gel cleanse
Scrub
Extraction
Hydrating Mask
Face massage
Soothing Mask
Shoulder massage

It took almost 90 minutes to be done with. Although I went home with a little redness from the extraction, it subsided well just by night time. My face now looks brighter, fresh and definitely a lot cleaner now after the facial. I am planning to take up its package since it is affordable to my monthly budget and I know I got to make it as a routine to keep looking good as I age (& sebab bila dekat rumah tak menyempat nak pamper diri sendiri, so this is partly to get off my mommy-time for some me-time too). Whatmore that they do not hard-sell on any of their packages nor products, which is a plus point to any beauty parlour that I (and most of us) really look into.

I will definitely make the call for my next appointment soon.