Pre raya housekeeping-Part1

My whole body is aching...started last friday with my left thumb..tak tahu kena apa..dah di urut dek Duan tapi lagi sakit pagi ni...now seluruh badan aching...Fendi kata sakit tua lah tu...Duan pun kata gitu...well kalau 39 tak rasa tua lagi tak tahu lah...ha..ha..yg pening gracefully booooooooo.

I have been working --cleaning..housekeeping  during the weekends ....doing the SuriRumah Chores.......perhaps those contribute to the sakit badan as well...

Ok the first weekend  of ramadan tu, I clear the garden...Bibik tak mampu nak buat semua with Aariz who needs 24-7 supervisions... he always on the go -- moving around except while sleeping and hates his rocker--those days are gone when you can station him in his rocker infront of the baby tv...he still watching baby tv but not as devoted as before....my definition of devotion here is to sit still enjoying the baby tv prog....now he still watching with his mouth opened like this but on the move lah..

Here we go some before and after pictures of the garden....The before...with Adib as my my assistant...asked him to trim the leaves...He did well, eventhough he tend to chop more than required. I planted rumput carpet but now there are more than one species there....redha je lah...asalkan hijau!

The after...decorated the space with garden stones...we have loads of those...dok lah simpan for the past one year...penuh semut...Boleh lah kan the transformation?

 The garden has been abandoned way too long...until I didnt even realised that this favourite plant of mine dah patah batang nya...but still surviving tau...because of the support from those roots at the side of the batang..

Then this weekend, started of with cleaning the leather chairs and sofa...Rajin kan? yelah tu...dah setahun kot tak cuci...berkurun rasanya...Hard work tau...penat jugak...

This leather cleaner is bought from Rozel...it is quite mild, good for those new leather

but cant do much to my old sofa...nasib baik i have a  stronger leather cleaner...can spot the difference tak? The right one is before cleaning ,

I laways love leather.. it requires maintenance but last longer. We started of with PVC --dah kojol dah kusi tu ...blue in colour...and this white full leather Lorenzo was bought long time ago ...I think dah nearly 10 years...way before i joined Grace...even teh cushion is still in very good condition...i think it is latex kot.

Actually...last weekend we visited Rozel, to window shop for a sofa for MIL...didnt find any for MIL but we almost... almost bought this sofa which is on sales for ourselves..Nasib baik, had second thought and decided to zero the cards first ha..ha..ha..Syukurrrrrrrrrr...Itu yg balik terus cuci my leather sofa..see sometimes new toy is not necessary ..what we need is to just polish what we have and be appreciative...Kena ke such sentence for a leather sofa...ha..ha..

We are down to the final 10 day of Ramadan...am reminding myself...

LizDuan's Sanctuary

I just realised that last Ramadan, this time...me and Duan ..we were busy ensuring the house renovation to be completed by Hari Raya. I feel like it was quite sometime already like past 2-3 years but in actual fact, it was only last year. Know what we need to re paint the pagar already...I think we didnt apply  the undercoat so there are white patches scattered on the wall ...mmg sakit mata....thought want to repaint before raya...ha..ha..being typical Melayu lah kan...nak raya ha..ha..ada 11 bulan tak puasa tak de nak dibuek nya...ha..ha..

Ok i just want to show some pictures of the house...there are 3 super singles beds in the boys room for obvious reason lah...and they ahve been shifted for a few times...tepi tengah tepi lagi ...first arrangements was mine- the beds were separated...then they kept requested to move or shift the beds...finally it becomes like one big bed joined together...become like a platform for berkubang...
It is defintely a right decision to get them one big room...i think if only we give them one room each, they will still end up in one room squeezing among them.

This was secodn arrangement...because they want to get closer to the air cond..

 That coffee table is now waiting to be transported to Pekan, the black cabinet ???not sure it is either in the small store i have under the staircase or somewhere in the junkyard.
 This is how the boys play...if they want to shift their mental from the computer games...MMg rimas kalau start main khemah khemah ni...berserak arukkk!

Now the room looks like this...Apart from the space--kitchen cabinet --the walk in closet etc....another best thing that we got for ourselves for this renovation--is the laminated timber flooring.Definitely tak menyesal...

 The beds...it was bought separately ..that answered why different model..I wish to dump all three and get new ones...but the one on the left is new for Adib...we'll see lah nanti nati...

 The wall is still very bare...I think wallpaper or a huge print would nicely transform the room...but nak mencari tu satu lah hal nya...In KL you can find those shops in the shopping mall but not here in Kuantan...kena cari entah kat sudut mana

 The difference between org rajin and malas...Angah has so many notes kan ...Along yang ado? sepesen dgn Ahmad Adib! Adib when you asked him to do some reading...buku favourite dia "Lawak KAmpus"...that is where he got his idea to do jokes gamaknya.

Nampak tak those white patches mcm damp..kat belakang Adib tu...that is what happened to our pagar .Sakit mata!
This is the family area...where we spent most of our awake time..esp me and Duan lah...tapi ternganga tv tengok kita pun selalu :)

 My Favourite spot of the house....it is cooling in here sebab air cond is 24-7 ...almost...and we have that curtain to deter bright light which makes the room very cosy ...dah rasa nak balik rumah pulek..

Ok folks until next time...selamat berpuasa and berbuka (petang nanti)...

House renovation entah part berapa

Finally the renovation is completed....done...except for some touch up here and there that we need to do on external painting, carpeting, gantung2 barang....and also the garden.
Alhamdulillah everything goes smoothly...emmm not really actually...adalah hiccups here and there, but we managed to face the obstacles.Did i mention that Yatim the indonesian contractor quit? He did..yes.. during early ramadan. We accepted his request and I think it was a blessing because if he was to continue, we definitely wont get the house done by hari raya. Once he annouced his quit , we took in 3 teams and split the work....Allah knows best!

So let the pictures tell the story lah ya....2-3 menjak ni i dont have the urge to write anything...jiwa agak kacau ha..ha..ha...both from my ownself and external factors...tapi alhamdulillah , semangat semakin pulih....things are back to normal...i think i am having this early mid life crisis kot......ha..ha..ha..god helps me! fend cakap to handle stress is to handle your reaction towards those things that you think are the causes of your stress...

After 11 years, i am glad that we decided to undergo this renovation...yes dear, this humble house has been our shelter for more than a decade....decade tu bunyi cam lama sungguh. Everyday, I thank Allah for this life that I have--i really say it "Terima Kasih Allah" ...we have our down moments and all that like many other people out there, but LOVE and MATURITY and TRUST and PERSEVERANCE are the main pillars that keep us where we are today.

With or without this transformation, this house has been my home sweet home since the day we were directed to this lot by the agent back in 1999...it was love at first sight, without any hesitation. After 11 years baru renovation tau, sampai kopak sekarang ha..ha..ha..My dear other half told me , we now need to save again for the next 10 years....berat tu ha..ha..ha..

I will post pictures of other rooms/areas in my next posting...see my dining needs a carpet...My mom said she's giving hers to me...i said if it matches my concept then ok lah...marah dia...dia kata ingat aku beli cap ayam ke? wahahahahha...love my mom...her taste is way too high, that is something we know but whether it matches my concept tu yg payah tu...kalau tak kena..kena cari satu...bonus lambat lagi puloks ...ha..ha..ha..

Last but not least...to my dearest best friend yg jauh di Sarawak...my renovation is done...so when is your visit , dear?

Interior design Part5

Next is the kitchen...we arranged the kitchen to be extended from the dining area....only one kitchen , there's no wet and dry...balun ajer lah....The kitchen area was just completed yesterday...lega.

The "island" was not in our original plan...that was Duan's last minute idea...and better still, he suggested for the stove to be on the island, thus we can cook from both side...tak ke brilliant tu? Brilliant sangat kan? Dia kan ada darah darah chef sikit so that's how the idea came about kot :)Kita concrete aje cabinet bawah. The table top , initial plan is to use granite but granite costs a fortune jugak so we replaced with tiles which looks like granite tapi nampak lah keping keping nya....kalau granite dia datang custom made sekedebuk nampak cantik lagi lah....but we'll live with that...no problem at all....

The kitchen tiles yg kat dinding...initial plan was to use tiles kecik kecik, they are the "in-thing" sekarang ni, kalau buka magazine mmg most kitchen will use that....those tiles, ada ranges of quality...yg murah yg mahal yg campur granite, marble bagai....masalah nya yg berkenan harganya RM40++ per square feet...yg RM16 hinggit tak jugak lawa lawa kat mata aku ni...puas from one kedai to another...tak boleh pergi jugak....

So being me yg always very compromising dalam segala hal...seriously, that's me...one of my best features--i would believe~~ I dont like to pursue devilish desire and afterthat, macam rasa susah and all that....so i decided "hei why must we constraint our choices--just look for something trendy, modern and affordable"...tak payah susah hati...and i saw those tiles we bought....Duan pun setuju, asal black , white , grey~~duan setuju saja....i love the design...macam timbul timbul sikit...

Fixing the tiles alone , both inside the cabinet area and the floor took 2weeks to finish. The cabinet area is quite leceh sebab berlengkok lengkok and 2 tingkat some more...so terbaring lah nak pasang tu...

The floor was quite fast. Tapi tak tahu lah , but it seems to me orang buat tiles memang slow slow--man--man---like nobody businesss! In the spirit, "biar lambat asal cantik"...we play along with their phase....tak kacau sangat :)---banyak banyak bersabar ...bulan ramadan kan?

Darah dalam badan ni mmg cam pantang aje tgk orang buat kerja slow slow ni....my mom dulu selalu cakap "jangan nak kereme kereme" ...tak tahu how to spell tapi bunyi nya cam tu...javanese for terlembik lembik terlambat lambat...kalau dah keluar phrase tu from my mom, laju lah gerak or just vanish yourself...kalau tak dapat sakit he..he..he..sebab tu kita org tak pernah belajar masak...my mom tak daya tengok org terkial kial biar dia buat sorang, cepat , kemas dan wallah ...siap!Finally, done....tomorrow kita pasang cabinet, banyak lagi kerja mengemas..Bibik pun dah tak de mood nak masak kat dapur lama....bibik tak de mood , akak lagi lah...tu yang kerja buka kat luar ajer ni....ok sambung nanti...adios!.

Interior design Part4

Next in this interior design label is the laminated flooring...we've been wanting this since laminated flooring was made like the "in-thing" in interior designing...we basically followed the price movements...no kidding ha..ha..ha.. I am glad that we wait until now and I am glad that we decided to have the whole of upper floor installed with the laminated flooring.The boys room--ni tak siap lagi actually , i dont have recent pistures in my folder so nanti kita tunjuk most recent pics...

I can assure you that the floor feel so good under your feet...and it feels good to just lie on that bare floor
Initially tot we want to leave out our room...and I made the "puss in boots" kind of expression , yes with the eyes and the hands under my chin...."Alang-alang, Dut!...and my room doesnt cost that much either...kecik ajer...

This wardrobe bukan baru...ini dah 10 years old more or less...nak tunjuk floor kat bawah wardrobe aje...he...he...

House renovation part12

Macam macam dah jadi...the indonesian guy we engaged with, dah quit...basically, he requested for all due to him, but I told him we wanted to hold sikit until completion...then he requested for additional cash to finish off the ground floor...at that point, we knew something is not right so we called him, we talked and he told us he wanted to quit...we let him go, the fund that we retain is used to hire new contractors to finish off the work...and with the same total amount ( maybe less) we also managed to get a new fence..

And patah tumbuh , hilang berganti...we get ourselves a new contractor.. a malay chap ..the guy is quite straight forward and he has quite a number of workers so the progress was quite fast.

See...it is so true that nobody is indispensable...even ourselves in our office, i always have that thought in mind --it keeps me grounded and it reminds me that whatever decisision we make, family comes first. Afterall, I do work for the family kan..And that's why when my ex regional manager in my previous company asked me to lead a branch in KL, aku mati hidup balik tak nak...I came this far to avoid KL hectic life....and if I go down, Duan and the boys camno...and I cant be apart from abg Duan lama sangat kang akak terpeluk orang lain...opocot sasul pulak...ha..ha..ha..main ajer sayang. Know what I just saw a new HLB branch in town, that is supposed to be mine if only.....yes if only......
But I love my job in Grace...On that note, I also need to mention kerja tak boleh separuh hati
...kerja kena ikhlas jadi rezeki tu diberkati.
This is our new fence...simple aje...kita naik kan tinggi and have it concrete aje...senang sikit macam ni...I love it .....memenuhi citarasa kita :)...minggu ni insyallah cat..