New Year, New Car

It's the New Year 2009 and for the Muslims, Maal Hijrah fell just 3 days ago Dec 29th and it's a memorable one for us, of course.

Since then, we've got ourselves a new car! Well, not that new since it's a second hand Toyota Vios bought from, who else, Abdul Malik our neighbour. Plate number DBJ 5289. It originally had Sabah plate number since the former owner was a teacher in Sabah. Had to sell the car 'coz he's building his house which costs about RM250,000! (Aack ... now I'm truly worried about the cost to build our own house in the future :-S)

Anyway, from the outside, it looks like a nice car. The boot looks large enough for our stuffs (which is a lot!) and it feels a bit bigger than the Nissan Sentra we had been using.

Speaking of the Nissan, Hajar's excited about the new car but she's gonna miss the old one. Oh, she does have a bit of nostalgic gene which I think must've come from me ;-) As for Ahmad 'Ainul, hmm ... no prize for guessing. He's beyond excited - and no mention about the old one!

Starting 'Em Young

The new school year is gonna start soon. Meaning it's time to prepare for it - the uniforms, books, stationaries etc. Which, of course, would mean that spending money (and time). Yeah, they are all rather costly these days. But thankfully, for this coming year, I had been informed that SRAH students are going to get 'Buku Pinjaman' - Alhamdulillah :-) Actually, I don't mind buying our own textbooks but since the MoE announced that all students at government schools are getting 'buku pinjaman' regardless of their backgrounds, it's became so difficult to find the textbooks at bookshops / bookstores.

Well, now that we don't hafta worry about the textbooks, there are still other things to spend money on, of course :-P Since Ahmad 'Ainul is also going to school next year, the expenses are gonna be doubled. (Money again :-P). Based on stories / articles featured by the media, I realise that some parents do face difficulties in making the preparations since they involve lotsa money. Many depend on their Dec salary and year-end bonus. I feel that it's wiser to save money all year round instead of depending on last-minute money.

I feel that the kids also should be educated on money matters especially on something that directly involve them like school items. Is it worth buying a branded school bag that costs RM100 when you can get the same unbranded bag for half the price ? What about stationeries then ? Same rule should apply. The important is, getting good quality ones at reasonable prices. Some stationeries (like pens or pencils) might be very cheap but they don't last long and then you need to buys them again - so, more money is gonna be spent. I like going to Mydin for the stationeries (excpet for pens - somehow it's hard to find good quality pens there). I like pencils and erasers and rulers etc sold there though.

Too bad there's no Mydin in Ipoh. Oh, well ... we can always go to Mydin Kota Bharu. But the crowds ...!

The Alternative Treatment

Ahnaf hadn't been feeling well in the past week. Thankfully he's okay now.

It started out after we went to the clinic on Sunday (14th Dec) as he's been quite feverish since the day before. After buying the newspapers at Pustaka Mas, Ayoh passed him back to me but Ahnaf refused to come to me - he probably wanted to stay behind the wheel. Well, he started crying and crying which was quite normal at first. Then he wouldn't even stop when we arrived at home and I took him inside. Ayoh was already going to Lemal and I didn't think to stop him as I thought Ahnaf would stop crying once he's inside the house.

Anyway, Ahnaf didn't stop crying - he even got worse! I felt quite panicky. Abah and Umi were understandbly worried as Ahnaf was crying like he was 'possessed'. They tried reciting a few doa's and Qurabic verses etc while I struggled to calm him down. After Abah had called out for 'adzan' for the second time, then only Ahnaf started to subside. He was probably tiring out after crying non-stop for half an hour. I was beginning to feel exhausted too!

For the next few nights, Ahnaf was not able to sleep well. He kept waking up, crying out loud and evn had Abah & Umi out of their bed at 2 am that one night for crying so loud. Worried that 'something' had gotten into him, we decided to try Ustaz Nik Dir's help. So we went to his house at Wakaf Bharu on Wednesday morning for him to 'baca doa' and give that alternative treatment to help ward off whatever it was. Took Ahmad 'Ainul along too - to 'cure' his aggressiveness, of course, or at least to lessen it.

Ahmad 'Ainul and Ustaz Nik Dir

Ahnaf just wouldn't sit still!

Ahnaf's turn now

Thankfully Ahnaf got better after a few days and looks 'Ainul is improving as well. Berkat doa sume ... Alhmadulillah. I'm grateful to everyone, especially Abah and Umi for being so helpful during the ordeal.

My First Post

I've been wanting to start a blog for some time but kept delaying it for some reasons or others. Not anymore. I'm doing it now because it's my daughter's birthday today. She's not here with me now as she's gone back to Kelantan to be with her grandparents. I'm missing her so much and I wanna do this partly as my birthday gift to her. I don't think I've been a perfect mother to her but I hope I can improve myself. Maybe having my own blog can help in a way - yeah, as a reminder to me :-)

So here's to you, Hajar. Ibu love you very. very much ... and I'll see you in a week's time! ;-)