A Homemaker’s Diary

It has been a tiring weekend for us as a family, including the little one..heh! On Saturday, Hubby has a business meeting for a new freelance project while I conducted the craft class (the second last class held in the current house).

We went out in the evening to have dinner after I wrapped up the class (we were starving since Hubby came home after 2pm while the class has already started, thus no lunch for me and him as well..huhu!) Luckily we managed to shop a few things for the baby and bought magazines in MPH before the shops decided to observe the Earth Hour.

Oh, the Friday night was spent cleaning up my stacks of old magazines. At least half of them are ready to be sold to “surat kabar lama” anytime now…hehe! I even threw a lot of almost all of my old shoes in the shoes cabinet including my wedding shoes..(who will wear a 5-year-old worn out shoes to dinner anyway?) I woke up on Saturday morning with a back ache and pinggang nak tercabut feeling..another reason why I hate cleaning up..huhu!

On Sunday, Hubby has been kind enough to wake up early and went to our new house, waiting for the Macy measurement guy to measure our windows and sliding doors. He came home afterward with our lunch. After bathing the baby, we went to Macy to choose the curtain.

It took us longer to finish up the task since the measurement guy was still outside measuring other client’s house. So instead of a 1 or 2 - hour task it dragged on till 9pm when we managed to settle everything. I got more than what I hope and plan for, a venetian blind for the kitchen windows and a pair of roman blind with border for the master bedroom windows. The other 3 panels for the master bedroom are french pleat with border. Of course for the sliding doors in the living hall I chose the normal french pleat for day and night curtain (this time the sheer fabric for day curtains are much much better than the one we had in our current home..hehe!)

Oh, we didn’t get any wooden rod for the house since we are out of budget. But the plan to install rods in every rooms and living hall is still on since we already surveyed the price (after the 20% discount). So hopefully by the time Macy Sale is on next time, we will be able to afford all the rods..heh! I also asked the guy to include in additional aluminium tracks installation for the other 2 rooms which cost us another 200 plus…huhu! At least we can still use the old curtains we have now in the other rooms..(senteng pon senteng la, janji ada jugak curtain..heh!)

Well, that’s it people..it costs a lot to own a house, and it costs even more to make it as homely as possible. But at least in the end it will be our own..can’t wait to move in..hehe!

Have you ever heard about the Mozart Effect? I have, even before I was pregnant but never bother to check out the details about it. A few years ago, after taking part in a survey by Reader Digest, I was sent a CD with Mozart music. I kept the CD in store after listening to it a few times. But now with a son who sleep almost all day long, I decided to play the CD to accompany him in the room.

There is even a book called The Mozart Effect, written by Don Campbell, who has condensed the world’s research on all the beneficial effects of certain types of music. Although there are many critics about the accuracy of Mozart effect, personally I think there’s no harm in trying. After all the classical music is soothing to the ear and mind..heh!

I found a website that writes about Mozart effect in layman terms here : How Music Makes You Smart. In general, what Mozart effect claimed to be is an increase in spatial-temporal intelligence (the ability to mentally manipulate objects in three-dimensional space) after listening to 10 minutes of a Mozart sonata.

For those who wonder what is spatial-temporal reasoning, it is the ability to visualize spatial patterns and mentally manipulate them over a time-ordered sequence of spatial transformations. This ability is important for generating and conceptualizing solutions to multi-step problems that arise in areas such as architecture, engineering, science, mathematics, art, games, and everyday life.

Well, whether the sonic composition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart could genuinely increase my son’s spatial-temporal intelligence, we have to wait and see the result in another 5-10 years..heh!

These few weeks, especially the last few days have been very challenging..there were times that I doubt my decision to become a mom (yes, it’s true, I’m not trying to lie to myself and say it’s all joy and happy..huhu)..somehow I feel that I have NO LIFE but this life and role as a mom, the sole provider of everything to this one helpless, little creature who refuses to sleep when I hope he will sleep..sigh!

Reading a blog of another mom makes me realize that this time of hardship will surely pass by soon (read: 3-4 years down the road) and hopefully by that time I can write in this blog and says it’s all worth it (Amin!) Just like she wrote in one of her entry, though people around her see that she seems to have no life of her own apart from bringing up her kid, she feels that she actually still has a life but putting it on hold to bring up the child.

The same goes with me, frankly deep inside I do feel depressed and unhappy for not being able to do what I used to do especially the craft work and run the business since it demands a lot of attention and time (which at the moment has been devoted for the one and only son..heh!) but I think I have to do what needs to be done, whether I like it or not. No other human being could raise my child as good as I could, so for now I will just bear with it.

Oh God, please give me endless energy, and never ending patience to brave my days ahead! Son, Mama will put her life on hold for as long as she needs to, so please grow up to be a good man, OK!

Some of the government servants I knew in person or through blog seems to feel really offended when people say that their salary were being paid by those who pay tax..but read what our TPM said in the paper Utusan today - Cukai : Rakyat Tidak Dibeban (huh! yr right???!!)

‘‘Sebagai sebuah kerajaan, kita perlu hasil (cukai), kalau tidak ada hasil, kita tidak boleh tampung perbelanjaan kerajaan serta membayar gaji, pencen dan bonus.

‘‘Kalau tidak ada hasil, kita kena pinjam duit untuk bayar gaji (kakitangan awam), nanti susahlah kita,” katanya.

So please work when you are supposed to work, don’t simply menghabiskan duit rakyat or makan gaji buta..with all the perks and annual leave that you are entitled to, you should work proactively and not mengular sana sini..huh!

Damn!! I think I got the online shopping bug again, huhu! After the baby things, folk art, scrapbook stuffs, now I am onto fabric.

Check out website like quilthome.com and fatquartershop.com and you will understand why I got attracted. Blame it on my maternal instinct to make pillow case for my son..heh! Recently I bought American cotton fat quarter size from a local seller and then when I read another craft blog who is into fabric frenzy (she’s making clothing for her super cute daughter), I know now why people could get into all this fabric stashing..huhu!

These fabrics collection are just great, with designs made by famous designers like Amy Butler, Sandi Henderson, Anna Maria Horner, just to name a few. I knew Amy Butler from her line of scrapbooking stuffs for K & Company - BELLE and SOLA. I never know that she designs for textile as well..heh! Oh, BTW all these designers do have personal blog..

I’m still thinking whether I should buy the fabric..this is very tempting..huhuhu!