snow, DIY and the rest...

last week the whole week i have to work in the evening. and not only that, i have to wrok days too. well some days. anyway, it was a pretty busy week. then came the winter storm last weekend and last night, it snowed again. we had like 5-6 inches of snow. will have to shovel the side walk and take the girls sledding later on too. that will be fun.

i like this picture. didn't think that it would turn out this way :)

i have all these things that i wanted to post but entah eh..lupa pulak. but thing i know is that, i am saddened that misty is gone. i mean..i only knew her for a few days and still, i felt so bad. was telling my friend, that since i have met and touched her, it is as good as her being mine when i heard about her death. if i were to feel this way, what more kak za and john.

6 inches of snow. sakit seh badan kena shovel the sidewalk.

i have finished painting the office this blue colour. i think i like this blue more than the turqouise that we have in the hall way..looks like sometime in the future i will be repainting the hall way..hehehe. NOT!..i mean yes..but not that soon lah.. penat seh..i still have one more room left. and that is the guest bedroom. this chocolate colour. we'll see how it goes.

this is the nicest blue of all the blues that i have in the house. too bad kalau nak paint the hallway thiscolour, it will be quite dark.

our bathroom project, tergendala sebentar sebab the local store here sold us the wrong kind of mix for putting the tiles down. so had to pull up the tiles back and discovered that the paste is not even dried yet..dah kena cuci all the tiles. if not this weekend we would have put in the sink dah..but anyway, it looks so much better since the tiles did not move and it looks kinda even thooughout. we also bought a dishwasher. after 8 years on living here, i finally went ahead and bought one. took sean the whole day to put it in..had to do a bit of plumbing and rewiring of the circuits. we got it up and running at 1 am two nights ago. that was the night where i had stayed up till 2 am trying to pull up all the tiles and cleaning the paste off the floor and tiles. so now, insyallah the value of our house will go up when it comes time to sell the place.

this was before we took the tiles back up. the paste tak kering and we have to number the tiles . cerewet seh buat keje ni.

well, as for the next istallation of our vacation, it was new year's eve. and we finally get to meet the rest of the ciccotelli clan. it was fun. during the day we went for a drive all over westport. gi kutip shells at horseneck beach and then went to this arm. dah lupa pulak nama dia..blue berry beach or gooseberry beach..entah eh..i dah lupa. nak kena tanyer sean. tu lah kat horseneck beach jumpalah kulit ketam..heheh. i showed sarah..dia ni takut dengan ketam..so i thought by showing the dead crab nyer shell, dia tak takut kan. wahh..takut seh..so she cried..i pun apa lagi lah..i chsed her around with it..hehe.

another view of the wharf.

then went to this other place, which had a lot of houses. but one hurricane..kalau tak salah, hurricane bob..ni main hentam ajer.but i think it sounds right..hahah, and wiped out most of the houses at that arm. that is why the remaining houses is so few and it looks really creepy actually. during the day it is so nice. apa lahi..sarina and sarah kutip sea shells lagi lah :) then aleh2 jer i dengar..sarah was crying and i heard ' lobster claw, lobster claw'..rupa2 nyer..sarina found this lobster claw and was chasing sarah around with it. the claw pulak tu still ada isi dia..punyalah berbau. tried going to a rest but tutup..so went home and had lunch.

sarina buat warm up nak gi pungut shells. sarah pulak entah eh..i tak tau lah what she is trying to do.

pastu siap2 for the get together that night. kita sibuk kat dapur, john and sean with the kids sibuk dekat barn. masak kuah satay..kak za buat her famour popiah..let me tell you..it is so sedap :) and when john and the rest got back..he made quiche and celery sticks and dips and voila..party has started. patricia bawak her 'fresh food'..which is healthy i guess but i don't really care much for it. i guess healthy food is non-existent in my vocab..hahaha. talked to her a bit..but i guess i said the wrong thing to a vegetarian..i said the first thing that i leanrt how to cook properly was pot roast...ehehe. honestly..it didn't cross my mind to not say that..until later when i realise my folly. how insensitive of me. sean apa lagi..he got along well with everybody..talk and talk and talk. tu lah..kita dua orang bakar satay and kepak ayam kat luar..bau semerbak :) near midnite..bunga apai..i malas nak nengok kat luar..sebab it was so bloody cold...hehhe...seme balik lepas tu..kemas2 sikit and duduk berbual..and terus apa lagi..landing time :)

nengok..sarah dengan dia nyer lenggang lenggok. ni kira tengah plan ni..what can they do at this place..

anyway..i hafta go now. nak kena mop lantai in the bathroom..something about curing the grout. oh by the way..more pic at my multiply.

one angry mommy and vacation day two :)

okay..hari ni tah kenapa tah..i feel very tired. i think could that i over exerted myself yesterday painting the girls bedroom and alih2 furniture. i like the colour of their room now. kaler hijau..so i like green..hehe. it is called golden cricket. it goes very well with the woodwork. i think i nak cat my room that kaler also lah. i also got a new bed for sarah. tak ingat bila, but one night i heard bunyi gedebuk..then i heard sarah whimpering..but i buat bodoh jer..then all is quiet. besok nyer i saw that sarah was sleeping on the outer side of the bed while sarina was sleeping on the inside. mind you this is just a twin bed. suruh diorang tido kat bilik bawah ada bigger bed tak nak pulak tu. anyway, i tanyer si sarina 'did sarah fall off the bed last night?' and said yep..hehe. kesian sarah..so two days ago..i went to the local furniture store and got the bed that is like sarina's.

ni ah, i amik gambar tukang amik gambar..hehe. sarah ni pantang nampak sand..siaplah dia mengorek.

so the came to deliver the bed semalam. all in the midst of me trying to finish the room as fast as i could. tengah assemble pulak, the guy said that he had forgotten one small part and had to go and get it. okay..after the guy left, i suruh lah si sarah gi check if the door is open..she went down, lama jugak. then she naik..all sniffling..i asked her what is wrong..she told me to leave her alone and that the guy is not coming back to put her bed together...lahhhh..i said that he will be back..mati2 tak nak talk to me..so i cakap kat dia..gasaklah. then the guy came back..wahhh happy. now nobody can touch her bed. sarina pun tak boleh pegang..kena marah dengan dia..ishh.

while painting, she said that she is my helper. boleh lah jugak harap suruh2 amik barang kat bawah..but i must be precise in telling her what it is and where it is. but everytime i suruh dia amik barang..mesti kena nyanyi lagu wonderpets...dunno if you get this cartoon show on nickelodeon. so she will sing ' what's gonna work?'... and she expects me to sing ' team work'...so all the way down the stairs she will say that and kalau i tak sambut..she will yell ' mommy..you say teamwork okay?'..

this was at the wharf across 'back eddy'. apa eh sarah pegang? i pun tak tau.

the previous day lagi best. she got spanked. betul2 nyer spanking. after coming back from the hols, she got a bit sick lah but dah kurang dah. then we went to walk downtown. run some errands..but tetengah jalan she decided that she doesn't want to walk anymore..nak dukung. lah..manalah i terlarat nak dokong her all the way. so kena lah pujuk dia..and furthermore last stop will be the library to collect eggs and bread that i ordered from some farmer. tang gi leberi wahh she was so excited. sampai jer kat leberi she wanted to go downstairs..i cakap let's go up dulu..amik the bread. i have like 4 big loaves and with the bags that i have..the eggs will be picked up later. she decided to throw a fit...nangis kat leberi..after conning her here and there..we left the library. sampai kat the house next door jer..she decided that she tak nak move. lama jugak seh..i was in front of the steps and i cannot go into the house. kalau masuk jer..i cannot see her already..then pulak time tu kereta zooming past sebab time to pick the kids up from school.

sarina dengan kak za..ni mesti they all tengah bincang pasal project memungut seashells ni tau..hehe

after a couple of minutes stale mate kan..i dah naik darah..while trying to balance the bags and the 4 loaves of bread..i got hold of her hand and pulled her up to the house. naik steps..she resisted but i pulled her up..sampai kat depan pintu, she made herself go limp..wahhh..i dah betul2 meradang..i opened the door..the first thing i did was lempar all the bread onto the floor..termasuk my beg...habis roti tu seme..then i carried her inside..then pulak tu..the stupid screen door decided to close on my leg..dah tertinggal kasut sebelah kat luar. dah kena bukak pintu amik kasut..nengok jugak kalau ada passerby yang ternampak kan..buat malu jer tertinggal kasut..hehehe..then apa lagi.. i main kompang sarah nyer bottom. terus terdiam dia..and i told her to lie on the couch. ingatkan she'd go to sleep...hai..lambatlah...

ter-blur pulak gambar sean and john. but cam romantik pulak gitu eh..hahaha. ni lah sarina, sarah tengah sibuk pungut shells. kak za and i amik gambar..diorang dua orang ni..asyik berbual ajer..betul , they talk non stop lah..hahaha

anyway, second day kat massachusetts, kak za kena keje. but john didn't have to. kak za cakap, they had an invitation to an open house..hehe. and she wanted to bring us along. memula..segan jugak lah kan..i mean kawan nyer john..and kite ni pulak cam tetamu tak diundang. but kak za said that the friends told them to bring them along. so pegi jugaklah kita ke housewarming party ni..:) before going there, we went to this asian grocery story..sean nampak trung bulat hijau..dia kata cantik..nak beli nak suruh i masak thai green curry..i nengok muka dia and said..we will not be here long dear..we have all those other food that we will make tomorrow..and he said..oh he terforget. beli tak beli..i beli baby bok choy, i beli asian peras and serai. and tah apa2 lagilah i beli.

from there we followed john in our car and drove to taunton. went to this old house which is i think over 200 years old. it is beautiful. i like the dining room with the old fire place, the original woodwork. can you imagine living in an old house. like what sri tanyer about my current house..tak takut ke..hehehe. entah eh. kalau i..tawakal jer lah. when we reached there..i thought sean and i will be together..but lamerrkkk...somebody started talking to him dah i kena bilis. berdiri kat tepi tangga 3 beranak tak tau apa nak buat. i nengok kak za, pun berdiri sama but at least she is talking to somebody she knows. nak tak nak..i went to a corner in the kitchen and there was this lady. john nyer classmate. very friendly so bebual lah japs dengan dia pasal the kids. she herself is not married and will never have kids. takperlah..

tu ah si sarina jalan jauh cari seashells. sampai i kena pekik panggil dia suruh patah balik. but before that i suruh sarah fetch her sister..but sisarah ni, senang nah lah dia side tracked...dengan dia2 sekali after that tak balik2..

sambil berbual..teringat jugak ni..wahhh..ni mesti kak za ingat i slang habis..hahahahha...tapi kan sri..i takder slang lah..mana ada..still like that one..hahaha. sometimes bila i pakai our teloh..they all went ah what?..what?..dah nak kena roll our 'r's and all that. i makan potato chips sama dengan sarah..minum air coke. oh before that, the host ajak jugak nengok their second floor. i malas lah..kak za ajak..i kata no need lah..ehhe. but anak2 i ni kepo lah..sebok nak naik sama..so sarina jer i kasi naik. sarah i tak kasi dah start nangis. that is why we ended up kat dapur. then the kids decided they wanted to mingle..lahh..tak kuasa lah nak melayan. go ahead lah nak mingle2 lah hendak nyer. duduk nyer duduk, ternampak kak za duduk kat living room sesorang..apa lagi i angkat kaki terus join her sama. best kita bebual. makan cranberry squares. there's this lady who owns a cranberry farm, so she brought her special dessert. sedap sehhh...

ni lah sarina...posing habis. tu nampak tu plastic beg dah ready nak pungut siput. sib baik kak za kasi beg plastic tu. kalau tak ..pendek kata one or two shells jer lah yang kita bawak balik..hehe

then a boy came and the kids started playing together. takut jugak manalah tau terlanggar barang2 antik..manalah ada duit nak replace oiii...then another guest came and smiled at me. he said that sarah is very adorable. she came up to him and started hugging him. he thought, what a sweet little girl, until he said, ' she hugged me, and then she looked at me and asked me,' can we go upstairs?'...lahh rupanyer ada udang disebalik batu. based on what they guy nyer story, she has been going around hugging and asking if anyone would take her on a tour upstairs..hehehe. anyway we had fun and after that we went to barnes and noble for me to get a couple of books and to the store. tu lah tempat kita beli lidi satay yang panjang2. balik jer..cam lapar gitu. agaknyer kalau kak za and john, dah tak yah masak..but i anak beranak, kuat makan..hahaha. so masak chicken adobo. sedap..then apa lagi sean dengan john bukak topic lah..tulah..tak tau bila diorang habis bebual..hehe.

okaylah...nak gi makan dinner dah. buat tomato and artichoke soup. makan dengan roti :) have a good weekend everybody :)

back to life, back to reality...

okay..went to work last night and in the morning had a meeting with the FOL member. tu kira friends of the leberi ler tu. my friend ni kan, she gets easily frustrated. nak explain bende pun kalau kita tak get her meaning, wahhh...cepat betul marah. i mean it wasn't like she had to explain like four or five times. i yang buat label so i know lah berapa ramai members kita ada. i did say that the numbers yang i kasi i pakai old lilst. bila key in..ada members upgrade their membership to lifetime after checking against the new list.

sarina tukang amik gambar..kak za..' nak cheetos?'...hehe, nengok ajer lah..dah lah lemah lembut ..duduk selimput ...wanita melayu yang anggun lah..hehe..tak cam i..duduk bersila kat atas their couch..hahahaha

entah kenapa tah i get to do this job. collate info. i was only trying to help. cam gini kan..lain kali you can do it yourself lah. tak paham i ngan ppl like this. anyway..dah selamat dah project tu. dah mail out the postcards dah semalam jugak.

sarina pulak..wah, berkobar2 nak belajar crochet. sebab dia nampak kat rumah kak za..al the crochet stuff that kak za dah buat. she asked me, 'what is that mommy?' bilang lah kat dia tu kak za kait. dah dia kata dia nak belajar. i ni bukan tak nak ajar dia..but sometimes, cam i have no patience lah..dunno why. so semalam dapatlah benang from a friend of mine and dah start kait dah. kait tali air..entah betul entah tidak..kita bedal jer. i nengok the way she is holding the jarum cam a bit awkward gitu but takper. she is still young. then kan, pegi lah this bookshop. ada kit for beginners and children like her. dia mintak i belikan..but expensive gitu. $20 over dollars. bilang kat dia..kita ge leberi okay. then she went to the library, bawak balik satu buku ni...for advance beginners thru advance nyer crochet-ers...dia kata nak buat topi, baju and sweater...lerr..i bilang kat dia i sendiri pun tak tau camana nak buat tu seme..hehe. yang i tau buat cuma doillies jer..so kita nengok the end product in a couple of months okay. itu pun kalau ada end product.

ni dia...mr. john ...or to sarah aka uncle bob aka uncle sean..main hentam jer si sarah tu :) i think he should have become a doctor..hehe.

sarah pulak...hai..tukang menyerak nombor 1 lah dia. so semalam paksa her pick up her own mess. wahh...tak terima. nangis2 and whiny2. suruh dia taruk buku balik kat playroom, only 3 books and 1 toy..itu pun tak terlarat nak angkat. asked her dah taruk ke belum. she said yes..i nengok pintu bilik dah kena tutup..wonder why..i bukak lah..rupa2 nyer..bukan dia ak taruk balik kat dalam basket or the shelves..dia lambak kan kat tetengah bilik..wahh..pastu pandai tutup pintu so that i cannot see..hehehe. apa lagi..bilang kat dia..her book privilege kena tarik balik. until she knows how to put it away properly :)

balik keje..dengar bunyi zzzzzzzz...my cell phone kat atas shelf buzzing. ada new voicemail..check..dengar suara kak za..hehee. geli hati baca msg dia. takper kak za..itu dah mmg plan kiter :) terima sajelah hakikat nyer..hahahahahahahha.

tish and joanie. again sarina yang amik gambar.

okay..vacation day one. thursday..kita bertolak cepat sikit. like sean , i pun prefer to be there hours earlier rather then later. i dah check in online so cuma kena kasi beg and dah tak yah susah2 nak line up kat check in counter. had lunch at the airport too. sarina and sarah punya lah kesukaan. nak nak si sarah. dah check in luggage, in her whiny voice cakap nak naik kapal terbang. i said not yet lah..wah tak terima. dah kena dokong..patu kena threatened japs...if you don't follow us..we will leave you behind..hehehe. nak tak nak ikut jugak dia. once naik plane jer..she is so happy. duduk kat sebelah i bebual sorang2...baca buku dia lah. very easy traveller lah dia.

first night kat massachusetts, nothing eventful except we couldn't find the way to our hotel. jalan kat sana belit2. pusing kat sini ingatkan ikut highway ni..alih2 jer..pusing lagi sekali...dah tukar jalan lain. baik2 kat boston, dah masuk ke salem pulak..dah kena beli map pastu patah balik. but the best thing about mass, after driving around in kansas, is that, it is so small..5 minutes of driving..dah masuk another town. so finally we jumpa jugak hotel. check in , order room service. i ordered fish and chips and fried calamari while sean and sarina order cheese pizza. sedap.

next day, after checking out..we went to gloucester. my in-laws came here for one of the holidays. i can see why they like it. it is beautiful. ate at this restaurant. it was very cold that day. no snow, but my snot was frozen. sarina pulak ada cold. dah kena bundled up. we ordered losbter bisque. i loved it. it is so yummy. very different than the one from maine. it was thinner and lacked flavour. but this one was thick and creamy. yummmsss! sean got fish and chips, i ordered seafood linguine and sarina had honeyed salmon with almond crust. she didn't like the sweet taste of the honey..so terpaksalah i makan.

from there we drove to norwood. this halal meat store. that's where i found out that hari raya haji falls on sat and not on sun. the place was busy. ramai orang call in their order for meat. i had to wait for more than half an hour until i tiold them that they don't have to cut the meat and chicken for me. i can do it myself. and from there we drove to kak za nyer rumah. ingat jauh lah jugak..tak sampai half hour dah sampai rumah kak za. but no one was there. so kita rounding2 lagi. found this grocery store..i think upscale nyer lah..some of the stuff pretty pricey but i saw sushi for just $8..murah seh considering they had tuna on it. so bought that for sean and a snack before eating dinner. went back there again and dah ada kereta kat tepi rumah.

keluar kereta naik tangga..kak za dah bukak pintu. best dapat jumpa another malay person..hehee. i love their house. the barn, the animals. the girls apa lagi. they buat cam rumah sendiri..hehe. yang kelakar nyer..si sarah panggil kak za aunt gina..i bilang kat dia aunty za..she said..aunt gina...hehe john pulak..memula uncle bob, pastu jadi uncle sean..only after that baru dia panggil uncle john :) . then dok bebual japs. sungguh lemah lembut nyer kak za ni tau. bak kata sean, i tiga beranak, cam make so much noise that would wake the dead indian buried out back in the yard..hahaha. duduk2 bebual..phone rang. kak za cakap japs and she said that tish , john nyer sister is coming over. pas tu tak lama, john pun balik. wonder how he felt balik jer..rumah dah ada 4 strangers...tercegat..senyum kambing cam buttercup..hahaha. all i can say is that, they are very nice ppl. sapelah lah eh nak accept strangers into their homes..hehehe.

terlupa pulak nama tempat ni. but it is a 5 star restaurant. we didn't go there..cam tempat seafood kat kukup tak eh..hahaha

pikir jugak apa nak buat for dinner..but the girls dah start their investigating. nengok the birds..nengok the iguana...they are very curious what is upstairs. kak za bawak naik atas..and a short while later sarina come down and was going ooohh and ahhh..she said kat atas cam museum..hehe. she said ada lots of interesting stuff..hehe. i bet :) malam tu kita masak kari ayam. but i tertaruk banyak ginger. so a very gingery curry indeed. tish and joanie came and the girls talked non stop. kita bawak keluar cheetos and gardettos. lama gak bebual dengan diorang. sarah panggil joanie aunt oni..hehe.

lama jugak bebual..then they left. we had dinner. and then duduk berbual lagi..sean dengan john..apa lagi lah..bukak one topic after another. i pun tak ingat when we all masuk tido..but i think john and sean stayed up later than us..hehe. yang kelakar nyer..these two guys..wahh..duduk berbual..bangun gi dapur berbual..penat duduk..berdiri berbual...they almost talked non stop lah...geli hati nengok. but i am glad that they can relate to one another. would be pretty awkward if they cannot get a long kan..hahaha. okaylah..better go now..nak kena buat DIY around the house japs. and nak kena plan our budget for the practice. oh what fun....NOT! takper..insyallah there is a silver lining for sean sometime in the future..heheh. semalam dia gi kerja muka teramatlah cramp..kesian my husband ....takper bawak banyak bersabar..hehe...lermerkkk..baru tepon sri..terlupa pulak time diff is 14 hours..dah pukul 11 kat sana. sri dah landing...hub dia yang jawab...aisehh very embarassing dahh..sri mintak sorri kat your hub eh ganggu tetengah malam hehehehehe.

back :) christmas and vacation..

well, dah lama tak blog eh. i have been extremely busy the past couple of mths. mana keje and then holiday season and gedebak gedebuk...terus jer gi holiday yea! :) well, christmas was fun. tak celebrate pun dapat hadiah jugak. best kan..hahaha. my friends got for us a le creuset potterie. basically it is a baking dish. and we got for them a new rice cooker. sebab everytime we go there, masak nasi cam tak cukup gitu. so bought for them a rice cooker, martin yan endorsed from target. they also bought the girls gifts and all that. i pulak tak teringat nak belikan they all apa2...maklumlah different family celebrate it differently. maybe nanti their birthdays, we will get something for the kids.

the girls posing with what sarina brought home from school. some giant candy and chocolate sticks.

got his mom a gift card from hobby lobby with some candles. as for his dad, a reading journal and a borders gift card. i like gift cards. senang gitu...tak yah nak pikir2 what to get for ppl. i got a perfume set and something from pottery barn and entah apa lagilah from my in laws. sean dapat some crank radio, neck massager, a portable vacuum for us and something else. the girls were very happy with what they got. sarah got things mostly on dora..a dora light, or what she calls her disco ball..nanti amik gambar..dora nyer play dough set..dah habis dah play dough tu sampai kering ..she main without my knowledge..a dora puzzle and tons of clothes. sarina got a beading kit, some oggly googly gears stuff..cam lego but i tak tau apa..lom bukak lagi hadiah tu...then of course clothes and a subscription to highlights magazine..banyak jugak bebudak ni dapat hadiah. gegula toksah cakap..i think almost the whole mth, she brought home candy lah..chocolatelah and all that.

goofing off at the airport. on our way to mass.

anyway, that was christmas...now on to our little vacation. we went to massachusetts and hooked up with kak za...hehehe. terkabul jugak eh, kita nyer angan2. dapat sambut hari raya haji and new year's day with the ciccotelli family. you know, i have not really seen most of the west coast, but let me tell you..i love the east coast. cantik nyer..but i am getting way ahead of myself. got kak za nyer phone numbers and called her up for the first time. wahhhhh..lembut nyer suara dia..lunak and merdu..cam you lah sri...why eh..my kawan seme so soft spoken..why lah i ni tekak larung..haha..tak per..kak chom kiter geng kan :) anyway, very excited. i mean..we have not met and yet here we are going to be spending a week there.

more goofy pictures.

memula pun ingat, maybe tak dapat flight sebab most of it are all fully booked. tried last minute again and there were seats for us to use our miles. yipeee!..and what else..off we went. the last couple of days after christmas, i have to pull 2 10-hour shifts, just to make up for the time that i will be away. to yang balik lepak tu. i packed the bags on the night before the trip. tu pun the next morning still packing a little here and there. ketawa pulak sendiri..sri remember the last time i nak gi on a trip to new york...cam tak leh tido...tetengah malam nak spell vacuum pun terlupa..hahaha. this time, i think sebab i was too tired..tak lah camtu..but still i had a bit on an anxiety attack..dunno why like that. time nak go on any long trip..i always feel that way. until the day when we are in the car and started to drive off..baru lah hilang anxiety tu. made arrangements for the cats and all that.

i love this place :) wish we lived there...one of the many wharves that masschusetts have.

anyway...will continue later. now have to get ready to go to omaha pulak. will be back this evening. then have to work on the last quater nyer receipts and send it off to the accountant..plus have to key in the names for the librabry nyer mailing list...wahh..banyak jugak keje nak buat..hehe. anyway, hopefully, this mth i will not be so busy eh. to everyone..a belated new years nyer greeting. insyallah, this year, murah rezeki and tercapai lah whatever goals you have set for yourselves eh :)