A Homemaker’s Diary

For once I could not find a picture which will portray this entry, at least not to that sense, my kind of shopping frenzy.

When I first got the money from blogging, I’ve been telling myself that I will buy this and that and I think I’ve done my shopping mantra right..haha!

I bought the terracota pots that I want, around 5 of them which are waiting to be filled with soil and the plants..maybe I’ll do that this weekend. I bought 5 tudung bawal (now I’m planning to buy another 2 if the stock is still available), I even bought Aura Seri..haha..but yet to use it. Maybe once I use and can see the difference I will write an entry about that..haha.

I have sent 4 pairs of baju kurung to tailors (among which I bought one and half pasang while going out for facial), bought 2 BUM long sleeve t-shirt at Parkson for my daily wear this week and I have just bought a blouse online..

I think I’m done with my shopping this month…hehe. And to wrap it up I just spend USD368.68 today for scrapbooking and wood decoupage items, which is almost RM1k in value..do you think I regret spending that much money on hobby..well, in a way I am because it’s not easy to get USD400 by blogging but still when you wanna something you oughta get them no matter what, right?

For now I feel bad that my money is depleting in the account, but I do believe that only by spending and enjoying the things you bought in life, you will have a greater drive to earn some more.

I have bigger thing to pay in August so I have to work harder in July..wink!

Since a blogger friend requested that I write tips on preparing for Malay wedding, I have been thinking about all the usual checklist that people should come out with, whether they are the parents, the siblings of the pengantin or the bride or the groom themselves.

So in the spirit of Malay wedding, I’m going to write a few tips in Malay language, just to give a more deeper meaning to the joyous occasion..haha! If you need translation, do tell me later, ok!

Tips yang pertama:

Paling penting pastikan bajet yang mampu dihabiskan untuk perbelanjaan majlis – resepsi makan, belanja untuk barang hantaran, harga cincin, baju pengantin dsb.

Tidak ada gunanya merancang itu dan ini kalau fulus nya tidak ada di poket. Keinginan utk mengadakan majlis sehebat fairy tale pon cuma tinggal impian kalau duitnya tidak cukup.

Utamakan apa yang penting, jangan sampai pengantin pompuan share duit hantaran sebab nak cover malu, biar jiran kata majlis hebat tapi lepas kawin tak mampu nak sewa rumah sendiri.

Kedua:

Pastikan jenis majlis yang ingin diadakan, adakah ia majlis ringkas, atau sederhana tetapi meriah, adakah pengantin akan bersanding, atau cuma majlis cukup syarat. Jika ada keinginan utk bersanding, berkompang, bersilat, menepung tawar dan sebagainya pastikan persiapan awal telah dibuat.

Pelamin mesti ditempah lebih awal, survey dan pastikan pasukan kompang dan silat masih available utk tarikh majlis anda. Kalau tidak, pasang saja mp3 kompang semasa pengantin berarak..apa nak buat semua kompang dah habis di booking masa cuti sekolah..haha! Ada kompang atau tidak yang penting dapat kawin.

Itu semua cuma kenangan dan memenuhi adat, yg penting akad nikah berjalan lancar. Jangan sampai pengantin lelaki kena mandi bunga sebab gugup tak ingat doa qunut!

Ketiga:

Pastikan orang-orang penting yang menjaga majlis berpuas hati. Kalau ada yg mmg semulajadi cerewet, cuba buat persiapan dari awal. Jangan last minute semua tangkap muat, sudahnya sampai ke tua diungkit sebab suami tak sewa kereta kuda mcm yang di idam utk berarak.

Selalu terjadi bila majlis anak, tapi mak nya yang beriya-iya nak buat ikut citarasa sendiri. Anak tak nak bersanggul lintang, tapi mak kata kena jugak baru la berseri atas pelamin.

Tapi selalunya keputusan muktamad terletak pada tangan pemegang saham terbesar..money talks! Jadi kalau pengantin ingin bersanding dgn baju ala punjabi dan sari walaupon pengantin tak ada darah India langsung, pastikan cukup bajet sendiri, bukan pakai bajet mak..melainkan mak mmg tak kisah dan ikut saja apa hajat anak yang nak kawin. Itu pon belum tentu mak tak berbunyi tak puas hati…hehe!

I think that will do for this Part I. I try to make it practical but if anyone need a more thorough tips, please consult me personally. I need to know what type of person you are, how much you plan to spend and what kind of preferences you have. No two events are alike so just because your neighbor managed to throw a lovely wedding for her daughter, or your friend had a lavish wedding at the hotel, it doesn’t mean you have to follow her through. Life after wedding needs more attention and sacrifice than those kenduri preparation, trust me!

I went out to KL (finally!) on Tuesday. It was really hot and fortunately I managed to settle everything on the same day. Though if I know that things have changed, I should have brought all the necessary documents to renew my IT company license so that I would not have to go to the SSM office again next week.

I stopped by at my friend’s office and sent those kaftan she wanted. In return I took keropok, asam jawa and belacan she bought for me..haha! I could only put 3 kaftans in my mengkuang bag since I did not want to look too shabby while at the government office. (Usually if I go out and intend to do some shopping or items swapping, I will carry a bagpack to stash everything inside..hehe) Actually there are something else that I have to give and take from her so since I was tight on space and time, we made dates to meet again next time.

So next week I will be going to KL again to settle everything else. I hate KL, the traffic jam and the people who seem to have no patience for anything but themselves. They don’t even care for people trying to cross the road…and damn the pedestrians signal which did not seem to work on most of the traffic lights..too much abuse maybe..huhu! I have to follow other people when trying to cross the road and most of the time I have to run because I was afraid of losing my life to the crazy, out-of-sudden-turning-to-right bikers.

If you give me high salary and ask me to work in KL, I would just say no thanks! I think it’s not worth it for my sanity and peace of mind.

If there is one place I love to hang out at, it would be Secret Recipe. Why? Since I can’t drink coffee so places like Starbucks and Coffee Beans definitely can’t define me. If I go to such places it would only be as a company to Hubby. Since the food in Secret recipe is good and the ambient is always nice (mind certain hours when children were running like they were in a playground..I hate those parents who don’t know how to handle their kids at eating places)..I always end up dining out at Secret Recipe. Plus their food and drinks price is not that expensive compared to other places.

Luckily for us, the branch that they have at the mall in front of my house is good enough for our standard, the customer service is good, the environment is cool, not many children running and screaming..(well, seriously those hyper kids really spoil my mood for eating, I really have low tolerant for kids like that). So usually once or twice in a month, we always go out and have something at Secret Recipe.

I will update about my latest Secret Recipe food adventure in my Food blog later. Check out CintaRasa.com, OK!

Today I decided to be a lady of leisure..(that’s what an old friend thought of me when I told her that I no longer work full time)..hehehe..I wish it’s true everyday but then again, doing nothing all day would not be good for my working brain.

I woke up early together with Hubby since I need to take the car from him. So he drove to the office and I took the car. It was still early around 10:30am like that so I went to post office to send things that I have been planning to post to my friends. They just gave birth, one to her second child and another one is a first time mom. Both are my close friends from high school.

Then I drove around Putrajaya, accidently got lost while trying to reach Alamanda. Many times I laughed at Hubby for getting lost whenever he tried to reach Alamanda for company’s lunch etc so now I guess it was my turn to get really lost around the big circle of Putrajaya. After about 20 minutes I managed to get to the Precint where Alamanda is located..huhuhu..

It was quite early for lunch so I walked into MPH, found something for Hubby, this month will be our couple anniversary. It’s almost a decade and I still can’t believe it how strong we have became together.

Went into Parkson, they were having Grand Sale, but could not find any blouse that I like so I did not buy anything for myself. I want to buy Biotherm set but the sales girl was nowhere to be seen at the counter so I decided maybe next time I could go again with Hubby.

So after a noodle lunch in TCRS, I drove to Bangi for my sinus facial treatment. After about an hour of treatment, I went into Sayang You to get new scissors for my decoupage class this weekend. All my old scissors are now blunt from cutting too much floral wires..hehe. Went up to 3rd floor to see the new kedai kain and bought myself sepasang kain for baju kurung and 2 metres Thai Silk for kurung pahang.

Drove home and stopped by at the new tailor shop at my housing area. The new tailor seems to be really nice and the charge is not as high as I expected. And she do kurung pahang as well so I guess the panduan menjahit baju I bought online would not be used after all..hehe. Came home around 4:30pm, checked email, chatted with friends while waiting for time to fetch Hubby from work.

Went out from house to the tailor shop again to give her the kain batik I want to match with the plain Thai Silk kurung pahang. She gave some fashion advice on what type of kain that could go with the kain batik and I decided kain susun belakang would do the kain batik some justice. Luckily the kain batik tone matches up with the Thai Silk I bought.

Went out for dinner with Hubby and around 9pm while waiting for CSI, I dozed off till 2am. It feels so good to sleep after a long day driving and shopping..haha! Now I’m blogging before dozing off again. I’m going to KL for some official errand early in the morning tomorrow so I can’t really stay up tonight..huhu!