2010..

Salam..

Looks like this will be the last entry for the year 2009.. Alhamdulillah.. I thank Allah for still giving me the chance to breath the air, for keeping me in a good health and for giving me a good life filled with the people I love - my husband, my family and friends....

Nothing much has happened since my last entry.. winter is still here.. no more snow for us in Limerick.. but we have frequent rains here.. and strong wind makes it colder than before.. now i have to wear long sleeves t shirts inside the house.. plus fleece robe, socks and wrap myself with an extra fleece! it is so cold that i feel so lazy to do anything! huhu..

Despite the cold & wet weather, I managed to get out of the house last weekend.. k.aida invited me over to her house for lunch + farewell party for along & k.islah who will be moving to Dublin.. my dear husband was working last weekend,so k.yana gave me a ride and we were later joined by k.riza & ustaz wan.. there were lots of foods and believe me, they were all yummylicious!! i brought a choc fudge cake over to her house.. k.aida made a blueberry cheesecake.. i just had a slice of that because i was already too full that day but i wish i can have more:) i never managed to make a soft crust for cheesecake.. that is the main reason why i made cheesecakes that didn't need a crust base!

The next day, we (me, k.yana, k.riza, ustz & 2 other students) went to Kildare Village.. it was the first time I went there.. it is kind of like designer outlets village.. there are other shops as well.. the ones that caught my attention are clarks & home & cook (tefal).. they were having massives sales.. but i've succeeded in restraining myself from buying too many things (of course i bought a few things but they were a lot less than what i would usually buy;p).. seriously i'm running out of space in this house..;p

Tomorrow will be a new day, a new month and a new year for us.. my dear husband is working his last shift in A&E tonite.. next week, he'll be going back to the wards, working in the rheumatology team.. i know he'll miss A&E.. he likes the adrenaline rush especially when managing severe cases in the resuscitation room.. he likes the surgical side of A&E -the stitching, reducing fractures, pulling joints.. he's seriously considering to pursuit A&E for his long term career.. but i think he's keeping his options open.. the next 6 months will help him to choose.. and I pray may Allah guide him in every step he takes.. go abang go!;)

2010.. may it be another great year for us.. may we be given the chance to improve ourselves and may we be granted the strength to strive hard to achieve our aims and dreams.. and hopefully,whatever the outcome is, we will not forget to thank Allah.. what's laid for us further down the road is a mystery.. and the mystery what makes tomorrow and the days that follow interesting.. happy new year 2010!

Snowy winter..

Salam,

Snow!!! everybody gets excited when it's snowing.. especially for people who rarely get snow like us in Ireland.. I like it when it's snowing although it'll be very cold before the snowfall.. but once it's snowing, it's not so cold anymore.. for me, snow actually makes the coldness well worth it..

It was snowing last night in Limerick.. we didn't realise it until this morning when my dear husband went out to the car.. no wonder it was freezing cold last night.. we had to turn on the electric heater on top of the central heating that was already functioning.. anyway, I love seeing the snow.. the view was magnificent.. everything turned white.. the downside is that we need to 'defrost' our car plus the roads are slippery.. please drive safely people.. also for the pedestrian, be extra careful.. winter is the time when the orthopedics and geriatrics get extra busy.. as people keep falling plus the rising number of road traffic accidents..

Well, lets see some pictures that I took this morning..

The slippery stairs..

The 'frozen' car.. it's actually not as cold as it looks like.. I wore slippers to go out and took this pictures and it wasn't too cold..

Getting ready to drive.. he had to wear gloves coz the steering wheel was ice cold! and we had to 'bath' this car with hot water to get rid of the ice.. see, cars also have to bath early in the morning!;p



That black space was our parking spot last night..

Even the 'lake' in front of our apartment was frozen.. actually there was a swan trying to swim at the time I took this pic.. poor swan.. hopefully the ice will melt soon..

In a way, I'm glad that my parents canceled their flight to come here this winter.. we won't be able to go anywhere in this snowy winter..

Yesterday, we did our last round of shopping before this Christmas.. My husband is working from today up to the new year without any break.. poor him.. hopefully it is not too busy in A&E.. people, go and enjoy the snow.. don't go to the hospital unless there's true emergency please! back to my story, it was crazy packed at the shopping centre yesterday.. the crescent shopping centre probably has more than 700 parking spaces.. and they're all full!! there were people who actually parked in the trolley lane! and we ended up parking at the side of the road.. I felt like it was exactly the same as the raya shopping back in Malaysia.. except it was freezing cold here plus lots of santa around!;) we didn't shop much for ourselves.. we bought a present for my husband's colleague as they're playing the 'Secret Santa'.. We also bought 2 serving bowls, a mini fountain (pottery fountain) and the groceries for 2 weeks' supply.. hopefully they're enough.. I can't stand the crowd and the queue to pay! my kitchen is full for now.. we actually don't have enough space to keep our food supply.. I felt like we're getting ready for world famine or something.. hehe..

I guess that's all for now.. till we meet again in the next post, InsyaAllah..

Happy New Year!!

Salam,

As I'm writing this post,I'm actually at a private clinic, doing a locum job.. gosh,it is so quiet here.. I'm doing this locum job for a friend of mine who should be here but she had to go to Dublin instead.. I must say after nearly 6 months of 'holidays', I was quite worried to do this locum job.. i was worried that I've lost my skills.. plus this is a cardiac centre.. and they did ask me whether my ACLS certificate still valid or not.. do I still remember my ACLS? hope so.. hehe.. but I did some reading to refresh my memory before I started this locum job.. but it was surprisingly quiet yesterday.. my work all day was surfing the internet!! hehe.. to those that i've buzz yesterday, thanks so much for keeping me company;) in a way, Alhamdulillah.. there was no emergency cases that needed my intervention.. ;p

well,this post is intended to wish all of you happy new year 1431H!! I wish that I'm more aware of the Islamic Calender.. to be honest, I forgot about the new year until some people was tagged in the FB yesterday on the do'a for the end of the year and the new year as well.. thank you for those who have reminded me.. I wish we're using the Islamic calendar much more.. so that we won't miss the important dates in the Islamic calender.. or else we're just aware of the 1st or Ramadhan, or the 1st of Syawal.. and more sadly when we missed to appreciate the significance of a date or a month in Islam..

I hope you have a blast new year! let us all start our new resolution(s) beginning this new year.. let us make the Islamic year more significant in our life! till we meet again in the next post,InsyaAllah..

When the husband dominates the TV..

Salam,

As I'm writing this post,my dear husband is watching 'Match of the day' on the TV.. as we didn't subscribe the sports channel, he would catch up with the results of football games later on at night time.. luckily they have the 'Match of the day' - they show highlights of every game including all goals.. he would sleep late to watch the program.. sometimes he fall asleep on the couch.. he is a big fan of Man Utd.. so whenever there's a match oh his fav team, he'll get excited.. football is like the second wife to him!

Actually his interest is not only in football.. he loves sports as a whole.. rugby, ashes/cricket, swimming, tennis, even darts (which I never knew there are big tournaments for that!).. you name it, he knows them all (well, probably not all but most of them anyway).. when we watch 'Question of sports', he usually knows a lot of the answers.. I must say I've learned a lot about sports from him.. the game, the rules, the players.. I think he is getting tired of answering my questions on sports.. especially if he is trying to concentrate on a game.. what else can I do.. I can't just stare at the TV watching a game without knowing anything about the game, can I??;)

Tonight is the final game of the snooker tournament.. so you can guess what are we watching now (Match of the day has just finished).. I haven't got a clue about snooker before.. now I'm starting to know the game.. and they actually make snooker fun to watch.. the players have their own personality (I like to watch their different reactions, it can be very funny sometimes), and they showed interesting clips to watch.. and of course, a lot of input from my dear hubby makes a lot of difference.. now I know what 147 means in snooker!;)

I'm impressed on how much guys know about sport.. me and my sisters are regularly become the victims of bullies by my husband and my brother in laws because of our lack of knowledge in sports.. when they all watched a game together, and we popped out a question about the game, they actually gave us a made up answer! and we ended up being laughed at! hmph.. ;)

The snooker game has just finished.. Ding won!!

Addiction..

Salam,

Silence has been quite apparent lately.. I really don't have anything interesting to write.. but my dear husband kept asking me when will I write in this blog again..

So,today I'll write about my current addiction.. I'm now an addict! opss.. nothing serious.. I'm addicted to baking.. If I'm bored, I'll bake.. If I crave for cake, I'll bake.. If my husband ask for a cake, I'll bake.. my hands are itching to bake again.. I've made 2 cakes this week.. 3 cakes last week.. not included the 8 cakes I made in the previous weeks.. I'm trying to get out of my addiction.. I would have probably bake more cakes this week but I'm running out of flour & eggs in my kitchen.. and I'm restraining myself from buying any more supply in the near future.. I need a baking rehab!

The source of my addiction!

We bought this beautiful Kenwood Chef Premier last month.. I broke my previous mixer when I was trying to make pau.. my husband has been asking for kaya pau.. so while he was at work, I tried making the pau.. but my mixer broke down in the process.. then I planned on using my hand mixer but it 'blew' right after I turned it on! with both of the mixers broken, I kneaded the pau manually ie using my hand! it was a hard work (luckily I managed to get good results ie good pau!).. when my husband came back form work,he found me in a bad mood and the mixers were in the bin! being an understanding and a loving husband, he offered to buy me a new mixer..;) thank you abg!! and a few weeks later, he bought me a Kenwood hand mixer too:) my friends have suggested either Kenwood or Kitchenaid brand for mixers.. to be honest I've never heard of Kitchenaid before.. but it is actually a popular brand.. they're pricey (twice the price of Kenwood mixers) but they're surely beautiful and strong.. and I heard they're hard to find in Malaysia.. but as I'm not a professional baker nor going to be one, I figured the Kenwood mixer is more than enough for me.. popular brand and the price was reasonable (we got 80euro off for the mixer).. I must say I love my new mixer very much!

Well,to be honest the Kenwood mixer didn't come for free.. it was actually a trade - my hubby bought me the mixer,I bought him the Xbox..;) his xbox broke down a few months ago.. as Christmas sale has already begun, we figured it is the best time to buy the things we wanted.. he has been eyeing on the FIFA10 game for a while.. we were planning to buy Xbox 360 and the FIFA10 game only.. but there were special offers for Xbox.. the price of the Xbox with the FIFA10 game was the same as buying Xbox elite 360 plus 3 games (including the FIFA10) and an extra console.. so I got him the Xbox elite instead.. and of course it makes him happy.. he spends most of his time at home playing the Xbox game.. he can spend hours on the game.. and when he is trying to concentrate on his game, I'm banned from going near him coz I like to distract him.. hehe.. but of course, I still do it..;)

The source of his addiction!

Although he is addicted to his FIFA game and I'm addicted to baking, we still spend some time together.. well, we're addicted to each other as well;D.. he will check on me if I'm out of his sight, and so do I.. people have said to us that we're like playful children in the house.. yes, we do get crazy sometimes.. and I love it!:) it keeps us young and happy,I guess..;)

I better stop now.. till we meet again in the next post, InsyaAllah..