Tis it.......

I was surfing through my own blog two days ago. Gosh! it's almost end of April and I had updated it only once during this month. What excuse (s) do I have? True, I had been quite busy recently with work and household chores. Supervising Ruth's history and geography projects which had to be handed in by the end of May. It can be real tiring and exhausting by the end of the day.

After some due consideration, I decided to return to work full time again. I found the 1/2 day working schedule rather exhausting as I had to rush through work in the morning, rush home to prepare lunch, dinner and do all the household chores. After some "hunting", I managed to get a maid to help out in the household chores and cooking. So this will be our routine , hopefully until Ruth sits for her PMR exams. After that, it's holiday time for both of us!

Ruth is working hard on her slimming regime. She had been putting on a few fat pounds recently and found that some of her clothes no longer fit. So, it's back to the weighing scale, oats, steamed stuff and plain water. See how it goes.

Changes...

Changes here & there. In my last blog, I wrote that my Indonesian maid had surgery to remove a lymphoma from her back. She's fully recovered now. But she will be leaving us for Indonesia this Saturday. Four days ago, she received a call from her brother that her mum had an road accident. Her family members insisted that she return home to take care of her mum. So, I had no choice but to let her go. She had been with us for the last three years and I really appreciate her diligence and unassuming personality. Ruth is very attached to her and we were sorry to see her go.

I have decided to work 1/2 day in the mornings only. I had not been in good health for the past few months and I do not want to overly exert myself. With hubby away from home, I had to manage all household chores, decisions and supervising Ruth all by myself. It's really exhausting. Although it means less income, I believe we can adjust and manage somehow.

Ruth is currently very busy with her projects. She had to hand up her history and geography folios by end of May 2009. It's definitely a very busy year for her!

Bits .......

The last two weeks had been busy ones. My maid is recovering well from her surgery and she is helping with the household chores. At least, I could take a breather and take things easy for a while. Last Friday, hubby and I drove back to Sibu for the annual "Ching Ming" or tomb sweeping festival. John also took leave from work and joined us from Mukah. Mum was pleased to see us and prepared her favourite herbal chicken soup and yummy sweet sour fish.

We returned to Bintulu on Saturday as hubby had to fly back to Malacca on Sunday. It was certainly a hectic and tiring time for him. He had been real busy recently and often had to work late into the evenings to ensure that the plant is running smoothly.

Mum will be going for another tour to Turkey and China early next month. She enjoys fairly good health and financial freedom to go globe-trotting. I wish that I could take a break and join her but family and work commitments made it impossible for me to do so at the moment. Maybe some other time...........

A short note........

Phew! The last two days were frantic and hectic. On Wednesday morning, my Indonesian maid complained of pain in her back. I brought her to see our family doctor and upon examination revealed an egg-sized lump on her back. After some probing and scan, the condition was diagnosed as a lymphoma. As the growth was painful and increasing in size, the doctor advised that surgery should be done as soon as possible. I immediately made appointment with the specialist at the clinic and it was done on Thursday evening.

My maid will be laid up for at least a week. So, I had been real busy coping with work at office, housework, taking care of her and Ruth. I had no time for cooking, so I catered food. Of course, it was not as good as home cooking but I had no choice. Ruth also helped with some light housework but that lazy bum need lots of nagging to get things going.

I do hope that she will recover soon as Ruth will start school next week. Thereafter, it will be much busier as I had to be up at 5.30am too prepare breakfast and send her off to school. Hopefully, we can cope fine until things return to normal.

A bit here & there........

The school break is here again! But only for a week. Ruth had just finished her mid-semester exams on Friday. She cannot afford to take a break as she will be sitting for her Grade 5 piano theory exams tomorrow. She had not been doing much revision on her theory exercises, so it's a last minute rush to cover all the topics. Hopefully, she can pass.

Hubby recently install a webcam at our home computer. It makes it alot easier to communicate through Skype with my friend in Perth. And, practically at no cost. For the past month, I had been calling her using i-talk card, which is much cheaper than fixed line rates. She is taking care of her two sons, who are studying in high school and university there. At times, I really envy her. Before migrating to Australia, she was working in one of the local banks Bintulu. She opted for MSS, which paid her a handsome golden handshake. Now, she's enjoying the role of a housewife, taking morning strolls around the parks, cooking for her boys, taking care of her house, garden and participating in church activities. Just imagine, no rushing off to office in the mornings, no deadlines to meet, no job related stress, etc, etc.

Work at the office is getting more demanding with new projects coming up. Seems that I just could not get out from this inevitable "trap" and cycle. Sometimes, I do wonder whether I am born to work! Ha! Ha!

Just a walk......

I am 48 years old today. No grand celebration, just a cake contributed by Ruth, some presents and SMSes from friends. Looking back and taking a walk down memory lane, it had been some life. No doubt, there were highlights, disappointments, defining moments, denials, trials, temptations, blessings and a mixed bag of ups & downs. Memories frozen in time, chapters closed. I must admit that at times, I was careless, insensitive, selfish and selfcentered. Human traits no doubt, but there should be no excuses, right? I had always been guided by my late dad's maxim that "Life is measured not by time but by actions".

But foremost, I had experienced God's goodness, graciousness, mercy and love. Time and time over again, I went astray and sinned but He forgave me and led me back into His fold. Call me a religious freak, if you may, but I must admit that without Him, I would not have lived life to the fullest.

After 48 years, I must say that, life had somewhat made a philosopher out of me. In my younger days, I dreamed big and craved for more. But as the years passed, it mellowed me, drawing me into real life episodes and escapades with grim reminders that life and things in this world are only temporary and fleeting.

Recently, I read a best seller entiled "tuesdays with Morrie". The author Mitch documents his tuesdays with his college professor, Morrie on a journey of discovery on life, love, experiences, death as his professor lay dying. Something refreshing to ponder upon.

I smell roses....

Thank God. I've finally recovered from my nagging cough. But not after a heavy dose of antibiotics and cough medicine. I can say it's one of the worst coughing spells I have ever experience so far. The antbiotics and medicine had numbed my sense of smell and taste so badly that everything seems to be tasteless and odourless. Just the other day, my maid asked me if I detected any "odd" smell in the kitchen. I took a deep breath, plucked up my nose but just could not detect anything unusual. My maid was laughing her head off when she saw me trying to sniff into every nook and cranny in the kitchen. Finally, we found the culprit. A piece of uneaten fish, most probably dropped by our cat, underneath one of the cabinets. Suddenly, it hit me hard, my sense of smell had gone "missing". Even my favourite laksa dish, which I found to be quite spicy tastes rather bland.

Sickness aside, Ruth is burning her midnight and "early morning" oils as her mid semester exams will start sometime next week. She had lamenting over the loss of her beauty sleep. She can snooze up to 8.00am on weekends but now she had to wake up at 5.00am to do her revision. Hopefully, her hard work pays off !

Mum and John will be dropping by Bintulu next week. I am really looking forward to taste her favourite herbal chicken soup and yummy sweet sour fish.