Missing in Action?

Hello again, everyone :o) I've been away from my blog for soooo long. I miss crafting and writing and sharing with you. A lot of things has happened since my last post and I just had to let go of blogging for a while to attend to my loved ones as circumstances require.. Just thought I would share with you the going ons of my life in my long absence :o)

Hmmm.. let me see.. it all started with our helper going back to her hometown which was supposed to be a two-week leave in September.. and decided not to come back.. so begins our frantic ferrying of my two munchkins back and forth to my in-laws' in order for my hubby's parents to take care of them while we work (thank you mak and bah! we love you!) . It was pack and unpack, pack and unpack for three whole exhausting months, we were even more nomadic then a Nomad! :o)

And whilst that was going on, my grandma was admitted into hospital.. twice..

and then my father-in-law was warded too..

at one point, my grandma AND my father-in-law was in the same ward but in different wings!

See that board at the hospital? B19 is my father-in-law and B30 is my grandma :o) just had to take a picture! We even celebrated Aidiladha with my grandma at the hospital. We were at the hospital so often that even the food sold at the hospital's tiny little shop where we often stopped to grab a fast meal started to taste pretty good :o)

And just about a week after my grandma was discharged, my sis-in-law went into labour and we were back at the hospital again! More than 24 hours of labour and an emergency c-section later (that's a whole other post!), this cute little bundle of joy was born..

I'm happy to report that all of them are now back home and is safe and well, Alhamdulillah, praise the Almighty..

Phew.. I feel exhausted all over again just writing about it! In all those time, I still visited some of my favourite crafting and home decor blogs when I had some little time to myself, just to keep me sane, which brought me to Ratna's blog and Alhamdulillah, since everything has more or less settled down, I even joined the recent gathering they had. Ratna and friends gave me just the kick I needed to start blogging again.

It's 2.30am, I better head to bed now, I have a project to share in my next post, so please come back soon :o)

Petals & Berries

Goodie Bags

I really have not been crafting much lately as this has been a busy busy month for me. First it was all the festivities, and then the hospital episode and then since my baby girl, Amira’s first birthday fell during Ramadhan, we decided to postpone the celebration and have a small party, only family and close friends, during this raya month.

With me, parties are serious business (little miss perfectionist!) :o), I loooove planning them. And kids' parties are so fun, fun, fun! From the theme to the décor to the food to the goodie bags to the party games and prizes.. I love preparing for it all.. especially the goodie bags.. it gives me such pleasure being able to shop around for the cute little stuff to be put into the goodie bags and seeing the look of excitement on the little kids' faces when they receive them.

This time around we have decided on a Strawberry Shortcake Theme for my girl (or is it for mama? :o) well, I AM from the first generation Strawberry Shortcake era!). And this is a sneak peak at the stuff going into the goodie bag :o)..

The theme colours are pink, red and green and the flavour is strawberry of course, so I've done my best to stick to that. There are strawberry jellies, strawberry flavoured chocolates, red ladybug chocolates and egg shaped chocolates in the theme colours..

There are also cute strawberry shortcake pencils that I found in Singapore (that's part of the advantage of living down south :o)) and some party blowouts too..

I've also added some strawberry cream biscuits.. yummy!
And these are the bags all those yummilicious stuff are going into.. I personalised it with a Strawberry Shortcake sticker with my daughter's name on it.. (see, I told you it's serious business :o) hehe)

The goodie bags are all packed and ready to be given away.. Oh, wait! How could we forget.. a little something for the parents too..

Some relaxing and calming strawberry flavoured tea to sip after all the running around at the party :o)..

Petals & Berries

Aidilfitri 2008 : Sequel

I never thought I'd be posting a sequel to my Aidilfitri post. On the morning of the 9th day of Syawal, whilst I was in the office, I got a phone call from home saying that my son's foot got hurt by some broken glass from a glass tabletop that fell off its stand (the type of phone call that would make any mom cringe). Not knowing his true condition, I practically flew out of the office to meet my husband who was already on the way to the clinic with my son. The scene at the clinic when I arrived (which keeps replaying itself in my head until now) caught me totally unprepared. I shall spare you the gory details but what I saw made me feel faint (and that is from someone who has a pretty strong stomach!). The doctor on duty at the clinic said he didn't have the proper equipment to treat him i.e. no x-ray facility, probability that his tendon has been severed (yes, it was that bad), so he referred us to the specialist hospital. Long story short, my son had to be anaesthetised (the surgeon didn't want him to be traumatised by the whole stitching ordeal), which required a trip to the OT and yes, the surgeon found the tendon connected to his second toe severed and repaired it and we had a one night stay in the hospital. Alhamdulillah, everything went pretty smoothly.

No, I will not smile for the camera, mama (cheeky face! :o))!

This is the cheeky little boy, who despite all that he has been through, did not cry much (my little man), gleefully entertained the nurses on his ward with his endless chattering, and still had a smile for everyone.












"Socks!"






A whopping RM2700 later (thank god for insurance), my son was discharged. Whenever anyone points to his foot and ask him "What is this, Aiman?" He will smile and say "Socks!". Well that must be the most expensive socks anyone has ever owned!

Here's to hoping (and praying hard) that the rest of Syawal passes by uneventfully!

Petals & Berries

Aidilfitri 2008

1st Syawal came and went. As with the past years, the day was chaotic, exhausting and fun all rolled into one. Grand-aunties, grand-uncles, aunties, uncles, cousins, once removed, twice removed.. I lost track, (in short, everyone and their second cousin twice removed were there!) came in throngs to my parents house. “Who’s kid is that plucking all the flowers off my prized plant?” (patience, mummy, patience..), “Now quit squishing that kek lapis into the sofa!!”, “I can’t find my other shoe, mama!” are common phenomena during the Eid at my parents house :o) there are just sooo many of them and it’s a vicious arrive, eat, drink, shake hands, depart cycle.. almost a blink-and-you’ll-miss-them situation (where are all these people the other 364 days?). We spent weeks preparing the house, the food, etc. and the day just zip by in a chaotic blur :o) However, Alhamdulillah, all of us, my husband and kids, my grandma, my parents, siblings, spouses, offsprings, in-laws all got to meet up together, in good health and spirit, to exchange wishes, seek forgiveness and to spread our love (and behinds!haha! food, glorious food..). We survived :o). Surprisingly, even after all the chaos at my parents' house and all the house hopping, my two energizer bunnies somehow still had some extra energy left to try mama’s and papa’s patience by fussing over bedtime and then some :o) Oh well, hari raya has always been more fun for the kids..

To Everyone:

Salam Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir & Batin..

(Will be back to crafting soon. If only to keep me sane :o) ha!)

Petals & Berries