Being Thankful

Salam to all, I've been neglecting this blog with my hands tied with all the workloads and the worries taking care of my kids who had been sick one after another. Now, I am at the end of my duty session at school. Taking care of the SPM Candidates for the English subject today. It makes my day when they came out of the exam hall saying that: "Teacher, we have done the essays in class, right?", or "that's why you gave us the exercises to do..". " Teacher, I answer all questions ma," and so on and so forth. I am not an excellent English Teacher who can do wonders by turning a student from an E grade student into an A grade student, however I am thankful that at least those who refused to write even a sentence in English have tried to answer all the questions. For a teacher, this is rewarding. that's all.

Shopaholic in trouble

Should I seek professional help? My question would trigger ideas in people's mind that I may be experiencing some kind of problems related to seeing a doctor, a shrink, a lawyer and maybe a counselor. They hit the bull's eye because I got this frightful feeling that I'm turning into an online shopaholic for everything that catches my fancy and will buy something to ease my stress. I know it is unhealthy and your response would be ` it's normal to shop especially if you are a woman'. Hmm.. let me list the things I have bought and would buy.

• I would surf the blogs that offer a selection of trendy and colourful hijabs matching them in my mind with the clothes that I have. Now, it has dawned on me that I have too many `tudungs' and half of them is unsuitable for me because they only look nice in the pictures and are actually either too gaudy or too drab in reality. The trouble is I can't stop because I do admit that some tudungs are worth buying. ( I know I'm rambling but this is the place for me to let it all out - I am regretting my impatience here... I should follow the title of my blog - A DAY AT A TIME - a tudung for one shopping session)

• Before this, I was crazy about books and the poslaju van had been sending parcels of novels to my house on a weekly basis. My husband only shook his head. I finally stopped ordering when I ran out of titles I wanted to collect written by my favourite novelists. One good thing about me is I do not buy randomly. I only buy novels written by my favourite authors. Luckily they only publish one novel per year. It's been 6 months since I last visit the websites selling novels. I could feel my fingertips itching to fly across the keyboard and type the words `historical romance novels'. Stop! Take a deep breath...inhale, exhale...sigh.

• Today, I came across this article saying that if you can shop from home, why do you go through the hassle of drowning in the crowds of people during a MEGA SALE for your kids clothing at major shopping complexes, torturing your nose with the mixed odour of sweat and stale perfume and of course queuing up to pay for your purchases. Urgh! I could still remember the fight for the best clothes with other shoppers, shooting daggers at each other for managing to grab the best bargain first and those who hog the use of fitting rooms. Not to mention weird shoppers who have the gall to snatch an adorable shirt you have been eyeing for your little tots. Oops! I know I digress from the topic today but I guess I'm building up a sound argument to support my new passion; shopping for my kids' clothes online.
  

Wow! It does feel great to let it all out. Before this, I just kept to myself because it's not easy to confide in other people about your weaknesses. Hmm...what next? I guess Sophie Kinsella really understands shopaholics in her series. I love the books and hope I won't turn into the main character Becky Bloomwood.

Friends n Food go hand in hand

I love eating but of course eating alone would not be fun except when you are eating to continue living.. Since I was young, I love reading while eating..hmm not a good habit in my mother's book but of course that is one thing that I continue doing disregarding mom's good advice.

Now, there is another habit that I love doing and I am sure most of us will agree that we need good company when it comes to eating. Yup! this a recipe guaranteed to ensure the increment of 2 kilos per outing... I know I'm looking for trouble when I love going out with a group of close friends and our main activity would be trying out new eating places and coming back for more if the cafes, bistros, stalls, kopitiams and bla bla bla are agreeable to our palate.. :)))) I like this! It has stopped with the birth of my daughter August last year and recently we have begun our own version of 'Jalan-jalan cari makan' when time is at our disposal.

Thankfully, Ramadhan is approaching to curb our unstoppable quest allowing our overworked intestines some much needed rest. However, the images of 'Pasar Ramadhan with sumptuous delicacies, mouth watering desserts and other temptations are not cooperating well with my plan to maintain number of kilos that has put a smile on my weighing scale.

Here are photos of our recent outings.. our tummies agreed with the food and I really cherish the time spent with these close friends. (some problems with uploading photos... will do it later then :( .......)

The first flight

Salam.. after telling myself that I did not have time for blogging and definitely not a creative writer even though I always babble to my students to be creative in their essay writing, a close friend of mine told me `trust me, you will have time to write once you have started your blog and in time the ideas would be unstoppable'. Tada! She's right. Here is the first entry of my thoughts; I do wonder who would want to read my life stories:my day to day experiences, my complaints, my frustrations and etc.... Well,here are some of my favourite quotes to lift my wilted spirits at the end of the day. That's it then.

"The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention."

"Wherever we are, it is our friends that make our world."

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." ~Helen Keller~