Busy With Life

With the current situation at home, it's all I can do to manage one blog, much less two. I guess blogging does take a back seat right now and I'm focusing on Gib's blog because things with Gib move at lightning speed. He changes everyday and it's tough to keep track of his progresss and make notes of the memorable stuff! So this personal blog has taken a place in the trunk of my car, even lagi teruk than the back seat, right? Heheheh.

I will try harder as things get better with the new maid. Promise :)

However, as I write this, it is worthy to say ALHAMDULILLAH, God is kind to me for giving me a new maid that is competent, is kind towards our active + talkative + demanding li'l fella, and is willing to learn and work hard. Praise God. I am indeed blessed in many ways.

To Train a Maid

We got our new maid last Friday and so far it's been so-so. Some things she's good at, some things she's not. One thing for sure, she's no Nila and I'm trying hard not to compare them. Nila also has her positive as well as negative sides, as all us humans do.

I know not many friends read this blog of mine yet but I do have a query to ask all of you out there.

How do you train a new maid to do things your way? I do so welcome any tips you guys have.

The main thing for me is Gibran's safety and the maid's hygiene. More often than not, hygiene is always a major issue for me because.. what can I say. I'm fussy about cleanliness. I think about bacteria and get grossed out if the same sponge is used to wash plates as well as the sink. I have separate cloths for wiping the countertops, the floors and other things concerning Gibran (like his high table and his toys). I don't like the dish towel to be put near the other cloths, because can you imagine the bacteria that comes from the floor ending up on your plates? Bluergh. Don't get me started. Talking about this will put me off my next meal.

So. You get the picture. Yes I am fussy about cleanliness and all those gross stuff.

But trust me when I say that I have been trying to be less picky and often turn a blind eye on how things are done as long as things get done, and everything looks spic and span. I try to pretend I don't care as much but who am I kidding. Once if I "kantoi" (catch them!) the maids in the act of doing something in what I think is unclean method..... I have a hard time holding it together. Pfft.

The truth is people like me should probably not have help because we like to do things ourselves! A voice in my head tells me that this is probably why God bestowed me with a trying spine. He has bigger plans on my controlling nature. Wallahualam (only God knows).

Therapy

I was feeling depressed about being cooped up in the house with the two help (the old maid and the new one) and Gibran who was not keen on being cooperative today. I also had (have, still..) a stuffed nose and sepet-feeling eyes because of lack of sleep (for some reason Gib was tossing and turning like mad yesterday so I could hardly sleep). Suffice to say, I felt like nothing less than crap. Of the lowest sort. So what did I do?

I baked.

I tried a new banana cake recipe because Dad as usual went mad buying fruits for us (this week it was bananas, enough to feed Martha Monkey and friends), this one calls for oats, desicated coconuts and chocolate chips. H's eyes nearly popped out when I mentioned the coconut, because, he dislikes coconuts. I however, think it'll turn out good. Baking soothes me like nothing else can.

When Gib acts up or when I start feeling sorry for myself, on days when good ol' spine feels stiff and makes me feel like I'm a thousand years old..

I bake.

Because at the end of the day, something good and enticing will come out of that oven, making the house smell gorgeous, and proving (to me, at least) that I am worth something. Because there is this one thing that I'm really good at.

:)

Crazy Roti Man

I dunno why lately I've been sleeping really weirdly. I sleep REALLY lightly sometimes, but REALLY "heavily" (like earthquake also won't wake up!) some other times.

But nearly every morning, Gibran will fidget like mad and I will definitely wake from whatever reverie I was in when our breadman comes honking. His is one of those air-horn-like horns.. I've no idea how to describe it, you know lah how rotimen horns go honking on and on .. in my head I have an image of a fat black horn that honks with the press of a hand.

He comes by some time in between 8.30 to 9 a.m. and would not stop honking till the maid opens the front door. Sometimes I can hear Nila running to the front of the house all the way from the back of the house.

I've asked Nila if she'd told him not to honk so persistently (two or three honks enough la fella..), and she said she has. But he continues to honk and honk and honk.

This begs the question of whether I should even continue to buy from this irritating, crazy roti man!

Loss. Again.

My friend in Australia lost her baby after a week of slight bleeding. This is her third miscarriage. Sigh. All I can do is mourn silently and pray from afar. I will be calling her again later.

Yesterday Nani came over because she and husband (lets call him "I.B.") decided to buy over the Sony digital camera that H won a few months back. She's now 10 weeks pregnant and it's looking good. Gynae said that if the baby made it past 9 weeks after all that ordeal (burst appendix, dengue, blood infection..), it may very well make it full-term, God willing.

I was making Kueh Bakar for a family dinner at H's parents' house yesterday night, and Nani got a whift of it. She however left before the kueh was fully baked, so today I'm making another batch of the kueh especially for her. Orang mengandung takut kempunan pula nanti.


If I could I would send over thousands of kueh bakar, or whatever else it takes if only it could make up for the loss of yet another baby. But it can't and it won't. I just pray Allah sends them much strength.