Saturday, April 25, 2009

Spirit Day 2009 - Go Badgers!

Yesterday was 'Spirit Day'... got an email from our senior alums earlier to wear RED (or more specifically Badger attire) on 24th April... more details on www.uwalumni.com/spiritday2009

Actually, I forgot about it... but I did pick out a pink/red outfit yesterday, so together with my red handbag, kire dah tunjuk semangat la tu kan? Hehehe...

It's basically to showcase the valuable role UW grads play in the world... it's also a nice excuse to round up your pals for a mini-reunion ;)

I know some of the super-seniors did plan their group date after work... too bad none of us could plan for our own...

Alumni Weekend's also coming up in 2 weeks time... if only it were easy (and cheap!) for us to go to Madison for that weekend, you could definitely count me in! Alas... poketku tak cukup dalam buat masa ini untuk berjalan-jalan ke US sesuka hati... business trip? Laaaaaagi la tiada harapan hehehe... cuci mata tengok gambar aje la gamaknya...

Monday, April 20, 2009

My Productive Weekend

A shopping spree at Jakel on Friday gave us the opportunity to work on more tudungs... yeay! I reined in my shopping demons (mainly only cos I've spent so much this month :p), but Kak R really let loose! Hehehe... she's got lots of people in mind to make tudungs for, and she's already got some orders to fulfill as well, so she went a little crazy when buying material... I took 3 pieces of printed jerseys plus 1 of plain white cotton jersey to make Amani's tudung sekolah... yang lain tu tahan tak amik for now cos I've also ordered some fabric from the forum resellers hehehe...

We spent the weekend at my parents', cos with Hariz's viral fever we couldn't go back to any of the other kampungs (it's infectious to kiddies 3 and below, so had to hold off from visiting our newborn niece till yesterday). I really let loose on the fabrics from Friday night... apa lagi kan, dah ada mesin canggih yang I boleh pau :) ... that night I only managed to cut the white cotton jersey into 3 pieces (2 for Amani and 1 for my mom), and couldn't finish putting the awnings on the bodies cos Amani was already cranky and wanted me to go upstairs with her to bed... pepaham aje la kan, konon nak teman dia sampai dia lelap... last-last mamanye pun lelap sekali! Hehehe...

Picked up where I left off on Saturday, and basically cut all the fabrics out and connected them except for the last piece of fabric yang baru sempat potong je but belum cantum with the awning... Sunday morning my mom went to her regular shop untuk jahit tepi, and we continued till petang... it's more of a joint effort, cos I cut everything and piece them together (including the finishing around the face), and my mom does the finishing around the edges with the twin needle. I tried, believe me, but I guess the machine doesn't want to cooperate with me that much on the edging... so after numerous unpickings, fabric getting stuck in the machine and 'beautiful, flowery language' from my mouth, I left that part of the job to my mom :p

By the time we left for home yesterday evening, the 3 cotton tudungs are done, plus 2 printed ones (mine la, Mama buatkan I punya dulu heheh). The other 3 are with my mom for the finishing touches, and I just have to put the last 2 awnings together with the bodies so that my mom can send them for jahit tepi the next time she has her smocking project to work on...

Hajat di hati nak buat the last 2 sambil jaga Amani, tapi kesian pulak anak dara tu nanti bising satu rumah bunyi mesin... tunggu petang skit once she wakes up from her nap la jawabnya...

All in all, not bad la jugak kan? Very productive weekend, no? In total now I've got 5 pieces to call my own, plus the ones made for Amani and Mama, and I'm getting a total rush from doing all the work and seeing the final product! It felt good to do some work and to see the actual result in front of me, as opposed to some (most?) of the work that I do on a daily basis that takes up so much time but yet has no (or minimal) visible outcome...

Is that an indication of my inclination towards work? Am I, if not a salaried employee, more predisposed to go into something that produces a clear product as opposed to providing services? Definitely something to ponder on... my career path is not yet fully defined as yet... we'll see how that goes...




The only shortcoming was... I had to concentrate on the sewing, so Hubby and my brother spent a lot of time with the kids... I missed out on that... not fun at all... so payah la skit if I nak buat part-time business that'll take away my time with the kiddies... so how?

'Tis the Season...

For all sorts of illnesses, especially respiratory-related ones...

As I'm typing this, Amani has just fallen asleep on the couch. We're staying home (at my mom's) today cos she suddenly ran a fever since last night.

The thing about Amani & Hariz is, once they start running a temperature, we have to watch the like a hawk, cos their temp can suddenly rise to 39.5 and above literally within minutes. Each of them have scared us before by having a fever-induced fit while we were on the way to the hospital, so now we can't take even a slight temp easily.

While at the paed's this morning, the fever meds she took at 6.30am have worn off and she was already looking flushed by the time her turn came... the paed recorded her temp as 38.5C (on the forehead), so I knew that if we use the ear thermometer it'll be higher. True enough, she was already up to 39.9C when we checked at home, so on top of the PCM syrup at the clinic, we had to give her a suppository to bring the fever down... poor darling, as usual she hated the supp, and was kicking, screaming and crying as we put the supp in... she only calmed down when we repeatedly told her we didn't want her to be in the hospital and had to give her the meds this way... had to strip her down to her panties to keep her cool and sponge her down...

Amani ni kan anak Abah... at first nak duduk kat umah ngan Abah, tapi Abahnya memang tak boleh cuti hari ni... so at first menangis jugak la nak Abah, but after giving her the supp and Hubby left, she was pretty much her usual self (ye la, time temp tgh tinggi semuanya tak betul...) and watching anime on TV (that's the only cartoon yang ada la tengahari buta ni... we don't subscribe to the kiddie channels hehehe)

She's had her lunch and her midday meds, and even did some 'work' (coloring, Jawi, drawing). She was already nodding off while taking in her Ventolin, so she didn't make a fuss when I told her it was naptime...

So I'm off today... Hubby did his time last week when Hariz got this measles-like viral fever and came out in rashes... Dah le sekarang ni tengah busy period, what with the new job (I got a transfer - started this month; Hubby's dept was restructured and he's also doing something new now) and the performance appraisal cycle that's not over yet... hopefully our baby girl gets better soon...

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Finished!

I finally finished the tudung I started at Yela's class (I had to unpick all the finishings cos the tudung was too tight hehehe...), and downloaded the tudung-making technique to my mom. She, being the experienced seamstress, of course found it a lot easier than I did :p

So while she started on a new one, I finished up my 1st tudung and continued with my second (the piece that I shared with Kak R.) The 3rd one (the same material my mom worked on) will have to wait till I get the awning from Yela.

Once the pieces dah dijahit tepi, then we can finish both tudungs... yeay!

Tengah dengki ni sebenarnya... Kak R dah siap semua, turned all the pieces she bought into tudungs and our office mates dah siap bertanya nak tempah dah... hehehe... akak sorang tu memang rajin, and dah terrer menjahit... aku yang beriya nak gi belajar, tak siap-siap lagi hasilnya! At least now mine is finally finished! Hooray!

Dapat la merasa guna my mom's new machine last night... daaannnggg teringin nak satu jugak!! It's pricey, but then again, I've spent cumulatively more on my bag collection hehehe... tapi savings dah kurang la... pinjam aje la dulu for now kot hehehe...

Now that I've started, I do find the whole sewing experience quite appealing, and want to continue with other projects like my own baju... but how am I gonna juggle the little time I have left at home between my darlings and the sewing??? Adoi laaaa... dah la skarang ni asyik dok keluar ofis after 8 je... penat badan and kepala...

That Time of The Year - Part 3

I don't want to write too much about this... those in the know (my close friends included), know what has happened, and who the various parties to the situation are, and we all know who is responsible...

Just wanna go on the record to say... 'Apa punye orang la macam ni, punye bersungguh-sungguh hasad dengki.... other people fight tooth and nail for their staff's benefit, but this one fights to lower her staff down... ' I am not a vindictive person by nature, but this I will remember, and I will not forgive, ever.

To this person - Tuhan tu Maha Kaya, Maha Adil... everything that you've ever done to other people in the past (not just me) have been and will continue to be manifested in the states of various parts of your life. If you think back, you may figure out why you've been very unfortunate in some things... Doa orang yang teraniaya tu makbul... But somehow we (yes, that's right... WE - there are many others who share my thoughts) know that you feel you're such a good person & great employee that you don't have any shortcomings. You are so busy denying other people their rights, you don't remember your own responsibility towards those you're oppressing and not appreciating. Remember what other people have done for you when you were unable to do anything, and not just what you think they should be doing more....

As for me, if this is my rezeki, then I accept it...

The best system in the world is useless if the people implementing it perverts it for their own benefit...

I have closed my book on my association with this person....

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Weekend Expedition

Today my friend & I went on an expedition...

What did we do? We went for a 'tudung'-making class hehehe...

What brought around this whole interest in sewing?

My mom's always been a good dressmaker... sepanjang zaman sekolah, none of my baju kurungs were ever store-bought... all made by my mom! So siap boleh nak customize kain lipat belah mana, nak poket, poket belah mana, besar mana... hehehe... she usually works with cotton la, but I guess as a working mom, that's good enough rite?

Now that she's retired, she's been spending a lot of her time learning to sew new things... so besides all her kelas mengaji etc, she's been taking up quilt-making classes, smocking classes, and the fruits of her labor happen to benefit my little kiddies hehehe... so Amani has a lovely new smocked dress finishing soon, and she's already got a nice new flowery single-sized quilt for her bed... Adik punye the blue one katanya :p With her intensified interest in sewing, she even invested in a new portable sewing machine ok?!?! The kind that can do some simple embroidery as well, since her current machine is still in good condition...

In my case, it's not that I'm not interested in sewing, but I don't want it to be a 'hangat-hangat tahi ayam' kinda venture... I toyed with the idea of making kids' clothes, but the motivation wasn't strong enough............................................................

Until I discovered DIY tudungs, that is!

Apparently there's a whole bunch of ladies out there who do it, and their work is gorgeous! What drew me to them was the fact that they were also producing tudungs in printed fabrics, which I love! I am still loyal to Munawwarah, but the fact that they don't really produce many printed tudungs makes it difficult for me, cos I've got plenty of plain-colored clothes for work and I don't really want to wear the normal square tudungs anymore (yea, yea... Munawwarah has spoiled me in terms of tudung-wearing hehehe... give me a simple, pull-on tudung anytime bebbeh!)

So anyway, I started off by browsing some sites of other tudung makers (initial link courtesy of Mrs Noba, who had Mektwain on her blog list), and saw the gorgeous fabrics for sale... that led me to some other sites with info on those offering classes for newbies, and I immediately wanted in! I mentioned it to Kak R, who was interested and decided to join me for the class. So, after emailing back & forth with Yela (who has lovely fabrics for sale too), our date was confirmed. All this, within the past 1 week tau!

This morning, our darling hubbies dropped us of at Yela's house, and we began our crash course in tudung-making. Now I understand better why the good-quality ones are so expensive! Torture ok nak buat! Yela siap tanya lagi, lepas ni nak buat lagi ke, nak beli aje? Heheheh... well, that depends la kan? The more I practice, the better I get at it, hopefully the more motivated I am to continue, betul tak? ;)

By the time we left, mine was almost done, Kak R's pun lebih kurang, so we just have to do the finishing touches at home. Since we shared fabrics, we got material for 2 tudungs each, plus bought a few other pieces to try lagi at home...

Kalau bersemangat, I'll put the results up here hehehe... if I tak pakai dulu la...








What's next? Dah bersemangat dah ni... try buat another tudung with Kak R's fabric, continue with the other fabrics... Dressmaking la pulak! At least buat baju kurung sendiri, kan? Mula la gatal nak beli mesin sendiri (even though it'll probably be severely underutilized for some time first hehehe....) Mama, nak pinjam mesin jahit........:p

Wowweee... a new experiment!! :)