Look What Toxic From The Office Can Do To You..

I am still feeling somewhat under the weather from the incident with the BFH (do refer to previous post for clues on BFH).

Anyway.

I asked my husband if we should do groceries today. And we did, as soon as the store opens.

I think I need meat. Lots. Vege. Lots of that too. Fruits. Again, lots. Butter for the cakes I plan to bake. (More) Butter for breakfast. Cheese for grilled cheese sandwich. Cheddar for the caesar salad. Corn chips for some cheesy nachos. Sour cream for .. I dont know what recipe I've read actually, but I know I just need it.

Nescafe (Honey, we simply must get the big bottle). Milo. The large container too. Worcester sauce. For..? (Dont you dare ask, 'cause I dont quite know). Olive oil. Yeah, sure - why not?

Do you want to walk round the garden section? Honey, you might need this to rake the dry leaves. And that gardening hat would suit you.

Uh honey, I think I might need some mushrooms and chicken breasts for the puff fillings. And jicama and carrots for the popiahs.

Oh, look at those recliners! And let's do the DIY aisles too.

Honey, I need some cocoa powder too. I got an email from my sister that went on and on about drinking cocoa although I cant remember what are the benefits.

.............. and I must tell you that the total bill for the groceries this morning shot record high.

I am actually working on putting things with the BFH into its correct perspective. Window shopping (in this case at the grocery store) does help in a way. Dont you dare laugh because I know this for sure from previous personal experience.

But the moral of the story for the morning is, thank god for understanding spouses!

And ps, I dont know when I'll bake the cake, make the puffs, roll the popiahs, do the nachos..

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Books, Books And More Books Part 15

And I am still dragging my feet on that book by Trump & Kiyosaki.. although I've finished this. What can I say? Non-fiction does not interest me all that much.

And although I do think I am reading too much what I can call junk, it is still reading, right? And isnt that the #1 hobby that our mothers always tell us to pick up?

And reading is too easy to do. You can do it in the car (while waiting for the lights to turn green), at the shops while waiting for food or for people to make up their mind what color socks they'd like, at the bank, at lunch, at blah, blah.

I quite like this book. Although it is not 'powerful' in any sense like The Kite Runner. Still, if you have not much to do (or much to do but dont feel like doing them..) this could be a good author to follow.

ps, we are planning to see the shopaholic movie.

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Books, Books And More Books Part 14

And while whining and complaining about the boss, the toxic office, the job, the traffic and just about anything and everything else under the sky, I had managed to finish this book a couple of weeks back.

I've never read anything by Jilly Cooper and thought I should see if I'll like her books. This one is a collection of the short stories she had written. I suppose it is not the best platform to judge her books. But what I've read I quite like so far. So next time I am looking for books, I'll get one of hers too. The one entitled Polo looks ravishing enough to read.

Currently I am reading Sophie Kinsella. I was looking for the shopaholic books, but cant find any. Instead, I am reading Remember Me? now.

I am also looking for Angela's Ashes (which had won a Pulitzer), but MPH has it at a pricey tag. If you know anyone who has it please ask if I can borrow it ok?

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Sigh..

So it is the end of a great day. You'd be surprised and ask, A Monday is a great day?

Yes, today is Monday and it has been a great day. The boss is away (of course that would have defaulted any day as a great day for a start). But on top of that I have been quite productive today. I've almost completed things I had procrastinated.

Had also gone out to lunch with friends. And caught up with a couple others.

Apart from the trouble that the orange tudung gave me (as every other Mondays too), it has been quite stress free actually. So sigh, it is the end of a perfect day.

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Old Is Beautiful

I got a message the other day from my artistic son - well, he's as artistic as any of my kids could be. The others do not show any traces of being artistic in any way..

His text messages goes like this :

Salam ibunda. (The contents go here. Make a wild guess what the subject is if any of the kids, or you yourself while in college, would call up the parents..) Terima kasih di atas pengorbanan bonda yang terchenta.

I gave a big laugh when I finished reading it. And thought it was sweet too the way he wrote it. Siapa nak puji anak saya jika bukan saya sendiri?

And last weekend I passed by a dress shop that is called "Butik Pakaian Chantek-Chantek".

And I thought that was sweet too. I like the way the old spellings are used. It's nice in a way.

Reminds me also of the way I would write to my mum while I was away studying - Kehadapan bonda yang disayangi... And I would buy the preetiest printed papers to write on too. I wonder if my mum still keep all my letters to her. Maybe I'll ask her one of these days.

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Let's Go Green!

Do you know that it takes 50 (or even more) years for an aluminium can to degrade? Yeah I know - wow! I went like that too the first time I heard it.

Try google this - how long does it take for plastic to degrade? Now how long do you think? Thought of your answer? Actually the answer that came back was "eternity".

And do you know that plastic straws can take a century or two (or even more) to degrade in landfills? Whoa!!

Jadi sayang-sayang semua, what are we doing to save the earth? And to preserve it for the next generations - anak cucu kita?

Easy things you can do - separate your bottles, plastics and papers when throwing out things. I put them in different boxes. When the garbage truck comes, the garbage collectors will stash these in a separate area from the other trash (I assume to be recycled later).

You can also decline plastic bags when shopping. Take along your favorite bakul, 'I-am-not-a-plastic-bag' bag or whatever tote bags that you have.

(These are my reusable totes while shopping at Giant)

Currently I am also thinking of making my own compost, but have not fully figured out how yet.

So let's do our bit, hmm? Least of all be supportive of those who supports the idea. I bought stuff at BodyShop the other day and they gave me my lotion without a bag because they are on the save the tree campaign. I thought, how rude!

But I am buying into the idea more and more. When I walk into BodyShop today, I do expect the cashier to hand me my lotion without a bag.

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Ranting Like A ? (fill in the description at own will)

This week has been stressful - and it is only Wed! I thought it was Thur yesterday. And then wondered why did I think that.

Monday was packed - the first meeting started at 9:00am. I was trained never to do a meeting early Mon - all my life - .. and I often wonder why others do it. I was asked to do a presentation later in the morning and I didnt know what about either. Luckily it was something I did sometime back. There were hiccups - I had forgotten some of the things I had prepared.

And I was somewhat mad too on Mon - I found out I missed the deadline to submit my name to be eligible for the flexi office hours (@$%!&#!). I also met a guy I've known all my life (of course I exaggerate - seem like all my life is more accurate) - although I cant remember when was the last time I saw him. He seem to grow a few more white hair. He had also quietly slipped on his reading glasses (which was endearing, in a strange way). And I thought, we sure had come a long way baby - you and me both (dan ingatlah 7 perkara ...) I wish I could stay and chat, but the morning was surely berserk.

Tues was worse. Worked late too although I really wanted to leave early - it was a tuition night for Eirfan. Had a meeting earlier with some blur people (including me actually, ha-ha) which didnt help matters a bit. Luckily people I work with are cooperative and helpful and we had managed to conclude the design that had been giving me a headache.

I think I am in a mess because I was on leave late last week so I am somewhat at a loss.

And as usual, traffic was terrible (worse than terrible actually). Benci tengok orang kluar rumah lambat tapi sampai ofis on time (I would love to go up to them and say Aku Benci Kamu! Buat drama Indon gitu. LOL). Although this morning was quite tolerable. I wonder if there is any other route I can try.. Anyway.

This morning I saw a girl with lips like Angelina Jolie although she didnt look sexy like the star (the lips, I mean - not with (without?) the clothes etc you know..) And I discovered my gorgeous Anuar Zain CD with my best of the best fave song is at its life end - main lagu tersekat-sekat. Eirfan would be glad - he always put his hands over his ears when I do my sing-along with Anuar (I am sure I am not that bad). And the other Anuar CD is gone - must one of the boys. I told them again and again not to touch my CDs.

That's my half-week report. I am leaving the office now! Tapi nak pergi ambik wajik kat Zana dulu.. (Actually I hear sniffles from somewhere, I am sure somebody is sobbing. I guess I have to go check & maybe report back here on that. Maybe it is not going to be an early evening after all..)

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Earth Hour

And how did you do with the Earth Hour campaign? I supposed I myself have failed. My mum was staying with me and she was not aware about it. So after the news I quickly made everyone come to the dinner table and switched off the lights in other parts of the house.

I wanted to go outside and see how the neighbours responded to save the earth call. And then maybe drive through the city to see the dark (?) city.

But I just stayed home and layan sembang bonda some more. Hope you had done better than me on this.

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The Bulb That Blew

Do you like, ever had the greatest idea in the dark of the night?

And then you woke up in the morning and then reality sets in. Then you remembered what your idea was the night before and then thought what a bunch of rubbish that was. How could you have ever thought of it in the first place? It wasnt an IDEA, it was the whimsiest dream ever!

Yeah, and so now I am feeling foolish, letdown, silly, immature, etc etc.

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Soup For The Soul

I am currently on leave - my mum is here for a visit and had told my sis she's coming over to my place. Despite being on leave for the school hols last week, I went ahead and apply for a couple more days off this week. Semestinya hasrat bonda lebih penting dari the wrath of the bosses in the office..

I planned to take her to Ikea today. Bukan apa, she'll be on her wheel chair and Ikea has got a lot of space to manouver. At the last minute she said no - perut meragam sebab makan sedap sangat pagi tadi she later told my sister. When asked what I had cooked for breakfast I said kodok pisang!

So I am staying home & doing nothing but melayan sembang bonda these couple of days. She has deep affection for Umno so I sat with her through the daily reports of Perhimpunan Umno (unfortunately - or is that fortunately? - politics do nothing for me). She cant wait for the Bukit Gantang elections - kampung dia / kami. After dinner today we went down memeory lane looking through some black and white photos I have on my laptop - we had lots of laughs.. this was my granddad.


These are my parents from the old days.


And this is us (minus one).

This posting will go under the label 'soul' - for obvious reasons. I wonder how many more ocassions like this I might have with mum anyway?

Note - I changed the label to memoir today (Dec 2011).

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