As exam week is over, I thot I could chill out this weekend with the kids. But we can only plan and Allah grants it..
Since Friday afternoon Omar showed great discomfort in eating or drinking and he would suddely screamed in pain while playing, pointing to his mouth. At first I thought he had toothache. Then I start telling him (hoping that he'd understood) how he should not take too much sweets and all. Then I start looking into his mouth and tried to brush his teeth. Then I saw it .. he had a few ulcers in his mouth. Ohh no wonder. Must be the heat, I thought. And how he lacked drinking water. He was quite OK for the rest of the evening but he drink very little milk and eat with great pain on his face. By bedtime he had very mild fever but begining to wail and wail until he fell asleep. At 2am, he screamed in pain with eyes closed. Gave him paracetamol as painkiller and he was asleep again after 40 mins.
By morning I checked his foot and hands. Yup.. some blisters has appeared. He refused to drink, eat or even talk! Brought him to see the paedic and he confirmed it's HFM. Highly contagious and will last for at least 5 days. Oh boy! 5 days! There's no specific medication for this except for painkiller or paracetamol if he has fever. And something to sooth his ulcer which is almost impossible to drop in his mouth since he refused to open his mouth altogether. The dr also said ice cream is actually a good remedy for this as it will cool the mouth.
Yesterday he only had half bottle of iced lemon tea which later he vomitted all on me. Then a bottle of milk. We offered him ice cream, he took it but he just held the spoon in front of his mouth.. Oh poor boy! Later in the evening he must be really hungry that he tolerated the pain and had some porridge and a whole can of isotonic drink. No wailing in the middle of the nite as I've given him some painkillers before sleep.
Today however is a different story. I thought he's getting better. I was wrong. He refused everything except the isotonic drink, he used sign language to talk and refused to eat any medication. This is day 3. Ohoh.. I hope he will ge better sooner than 5 days because I can see him losing weight already.
HFM is not really dangerous but still it's a virus. If not treated well and control, it will spread and becomes an outbreak. It's normally contracted via saliva or mucus of another person who's had it. This is what puzzled me since Omar is most at the time at home. I didn't bring him to any public places for the past week. Unlike his siblings who's had this before from school last year or so.
It's nothing to be panic about only great hassle in caring the infected ones. And I have to be extra cautious handling the rest of the kids so that they won't get it.
You can read all about HFM here.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Another one.. again
It's here again.. and it will be here again and again...
Exam week...
Oh how I dread it. I have to use up all my energy just to get the boys "to look" at their books. Sure.. they have piles of book in front of them .. at the same time the younger ones would lure them into whatever games that they were playing ...! Then I need more and more energy to stop the young ones to involve their brohers. Oh dear.. what chaos.
And this will go on till the end of their schooling... oh dear God gimme the strength, courage and patience!
Eh .. surely it can't be that bad...
Exam week...
Oh how I dread it. I have to use up all my energy just to get the boys "to look" at their books. Sure.. they have piles of book in front of them .. at the same time the younger ones would lure them into whatever games that they were playing ...! Then I need more and more energy to stop the young ones to involve their brohers. Oh dear.. what chaos.
And this will go on till the end of their schooling... oh dear God gimme the strength, courage and patience!
Eh .. surely it can't be that bad...
Thursday, May 14, 2009
My first step
I have always wanted to do something different in my life but I lacked the courage. And I always thought I'm different but the fact is .. I'm very much the same as anybody else. Last weekend I finally stepped beyond my normal life routine. Did something I thought I'd never do. Well.. could be nothing to some people but something to me.
The event... My sister and I rented a spot in a 3-day bazaar organised by a state mosque here. I had some home made cakes and my sister sell health product of which she is the distributor. We were really nervous about it since we have never done this before. I HAVE NEVER done this in my entire life! Not even during school or college where sometimes some students set up booth to sell something during any college event. Not me.. I was such a public freak (well, I do have my reasons!!)
The expectation ... really, I didn't know what to expect since it was my first time. I also did not think of the sales.. though I did hope for some returns. My "little" worry was the weather since the heat was rather unbearable for the past week. I worried whether I can survive the heat under the tent for 7-10 (or longer) hours a day. My main objective was to get the experience of selling... and to see if my so-called culinary skills can earn me some money.
The experience ... WOW! My first impression.. we were really the small fish there. We were competing with the "real business people". Other booths were occupied by seasoned sellers who had been selling their products for at least a year or so.. who had done this kind of sales numerous of times if not daily. They have all the "right" tools and peripherals to do the selling. I was slightly taken aback at first. Then again I thought, what do you expect, this is the real world. I was doing real sales, meeting real customers from all walk of life. I got a bit nervous then. Somehow my nervousness dissapear when we were greeted by other sellers.. they were SUPER friedly and helpful! My... was I pleasantly surprised. We got acquainted in no time. The booth on my left was selling all kind of dates and raisins, and their hot selling Halal coco drink - MOSHA, fresh in the market. They consists of a few humble young man, ready to help you anytime. My right neighbor is a gutsy friendly, talkative lady and her workers selling Muslim apparels. By the end of the first day, we got acquainted with almost all the sellers, around 20 of them. Though some may be our competitor, but the selling and teamwork spirit is amazing.
After 3 days .. I would say the experience was priceless. Forget the heat which thankfully was bearable because it was rather breezy! Socializing with people on the streets, sellers who are very determined in selling their products, as well as customers of whom you never know what to expect from them except that you hope they would buy from you. You get that exciting feeling when you see people approaching your items, and you tell them excitedly what they are all about. They came, the looked, tasted and looked again. If you are lucky, they buy... if not they just said thank you, smiled and walked away. And you.. took a seat again! Isn't that interesting?
The sales ... welll.. I didn't do so well in this one. Perhaps I did not do enough research on the crowd. You have to reach the right crowd. I was selling cakes in a mosque area. Perhaps a better place to sell cakes is in the mall or offices where the crowd would be more represented. Eh? People who go to mosque are mostly elderlies- who are not supposed to eat sweet things? 80% of my sales came from family and friends who came to visit us by invitation (yup, told thm I'm selling!) and the neighboring sellers who got hungry, or appetised by the cakes. I had leftovers at the end of each day which I would generously gave away to the "neighbors" or my family members. At the end of the 3 days.. I barely covered my costs. My friends thought I was selling the cakes way too low beyond the market price.. well it's true actually. ... I WAS just testing the water!
So that was my first step, hopefully towards something bigger. I will definitely keep on moving further if God wills. Except for the next time around, instead of jumping right into the sea, I will learn how to swim first!
The event... My sister and I rented a spot in a 3-day bazaar organised by a state mosque here. I had some home made cakes and my sister sell health product of which she is the distributor. We were really nervous about it since we have never done this before. I HAVE NEVER done this in my entire life! Not even during school or college where sometimes some students set up booth to sell something during any college event. Not me.. I was such a public freak (well, I do have my reasons!!)
The expectation ... really, I didn't know what to expect since it was my first time. I also did not think of the sales.. though I did hope for some returns. My "little" worry was the weather since the heat was rather unbearable for the past week. I worried whether I can survive the heat under the tent for 7-10 (or longer) hours a day. My main objective was to get the experience of selling... and to see if my so-called culinary skills can earn me some money.
The experience ... WOW! My first impression.. we were really the small fish there. We were competing with the "real business people". Other booths were occupied by seasoned sellers who had been selling their products for at least a year or so.. who had done this kind of sales numerous of times if not daily. They have all the "right" tools and peripherals to do the selling. I was slightly taken aback at first. Then again I thought, what do you expect, this is the real world. I was doing real sales, meeting real customers from all walk of life. I got a bit nervous then. Somehow my nervousness dissapear when we were greeted by other sellers.. they were SUPER friedly and helpful! My... was I pleasantly surprised. We got acquainted in no time. The booth on my left was selling all kind of dates and raisins, and their hot selling Halal coco drink - MOSHA, fresh in the market. They consists of a few humble young man, ready to help you anytime. My right neighbor is a gutsy friendly, talkative lady and her workers selling Muslim apparels. By the end of the first day, we got acquainted with almost all the sellers, around 20 of them. Though some may be our competitor, but the selling and teamwork spirit is amazing.
After 3 days .. I would say the experience was priceless. Forget the heat which thankfully was bearable because it was rather breezy! Socializing with people on the streets, sellers who are very determined in selling their products, as well as customers of whom you never know what to expect from them except that you hope they would buy from you. You get that exciting feeling when you see people approaching your items, and you tell them excitedly what they are all about. They came, the looked, tasted and looked again. If you are lucky, they buy... if not they just said thank you, smiled and walked away. And you.. took a seat again! Isn't that interesting?
The sales ... welll.. I didn't do so well in this one. Perhaps I did not do enough research on the crowd. You have to reach the right crowd. I was selling cakes in a mosque area. Perhaps a better place to sell cakes is in the mall or offices where the crowd would be more represented. Eh? People who go to mosque are mostly elderlies- who are not supposed to eat sweet things? 80% of my sales came from family and friends who came to visit us by invitation (yup, told thm I'm selling!) and the neighboring sellers who got hungry, or appetised by the cakes. I had leftovers at the end of each day which I would generously gave away to the "neighbors" or my family members. At the end of the 3 days.. I barely covered my costs. My friends thought I was selling the cakes way too low beyond the market price.. well it's true actually. ... I WAS just testing the water!
So that was my first step, hopefully towards something bigger. I will definitely keep on moving further if God wills. Except for the next time around, instead of jumping right into the sea, I will learn how to swim first!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Mother's Day
I bet every mom blogger will be writing about this. Here's my count of the day..
At the front door...
On the wall in the living hall
Another wall in the living hall
Each of their individual card as they swarmed me when I entered the house.
I was out of the house since morning by myself under "a mission" (this will be another entry!) until 5pm. What greeted me was this ..
At the front door... 
On the wall in the living hall
Another wall in the living hall
Each of their individual card as they swarmed me when I entered the house. Apparently they spent the whole day making the cards. Abang made Omar's card. Syasya had 2 cards as one she made at school. It was touching .. really. I have their handmade cards every year actually but this year is rather elaborated since they had time to prepare and surprise me. Abang suggested that we go out to the mall so that he can pick something out for me. But I said the cards are enough and I didn't need any gift. Later we just went out for a drive.
To me I don't need any presents or any special dinner to celebrate me being their mother. Being a mom is already a gift by itself. It's just become even more special when your kids acknowledge, appreciate and most importantly love you as much as love them. Words cannot just describe what being a mother means.
I thank Allah for the gift..
The only thing is that I wish my mom is here so that I can show my appreciation as I don't recall having done that .. well back in those days mom appreciation was not very popular. Those days where moms are just moms.
Al-Fatihah for my mom ...
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Focus.. ACT!
It's a matter of getting up and do it. I've been doing a lot of reading on how to's on some areas in my attempt to "work from home". But never get around to actually do it. I have all the instructions, I have the tools, I have the means.. but why is it so hard for me to actually do it? Perhaps I lack the will? I have thousands of excuses too! I also thought of so many things that I want to do and I could do. At the end of the day none accomplished. How dissapointing! It's like watching days and months go by.. without any results.
Yesterday I read an article on Money Tree which tells you money does grow on trees! With the right strategies of course.. hence the Money Tree. Last week I read an article on How to Make Money on the Internet.. it really works, but the most important thing is FOCUS. You have to focus on what you want to do.. not do everything. Doinkkkk... one big hit on my head. That's it.. another thing that I'm lacking.. focus.. that's why I end up doing nothing. I want to do so many things.. I end up doing a little bit here and there - nothing accomplished.
Oh well perhaps there are "some" things accomplished. I managed all data gathering and preparation of tools and content.. but still.. there's no real determination in getting it done. Perhaps I need to get desperate. But I am kinda desperate right now. I'm desperate to get excited to see the results, desperate to fill my time with something "intellectually challenging" .. other than "parental challenge". And most of all desperate to see some RM pouring into my bank account out of my efforts.
I guess this is the real dilemma of me being a SAHM. I lack the focus, motivation and determination.. despite the desperation that I'm feeling. I hope I will not head to failure.. They say you have to fail first, it's a BIG step towards success. I truly agree.. hey but I am so afraid of failure. I have never really failed.. not really so successful either.. but I get through. I got through school, I got through college, I got through 15 years of working life. That's all there is, I got through. It's pathetic. No real success.
The only success so far that I see is raising my kids which is even then I am not sure of the real result until they grow up and live their lives "successfully". And this .. I swear.. I will not just go through it. I am working hard for it because I can feel the pain of raising them. I have my all my emotions surfacing while taking care of them. So I pray hard ... I will tread through this one.. and I will be successful.
I'm straying away from what I was gonna write.. being focused. Now that I've lashed out everything here.. perhaps today onwards, I will take action and hope for the best results rather than wonder how it would turn out. All the best to me!
Yesterday I read an article on Money Tree which tells you money does grow on trees! With the right strategies of course.. hence the Money Tree. Last week I read an article on How to Make Money on the Internet.. it really works, but the most important thing is FOCUS. You have to focus on what you want to do.. not do everything. Doinkkkk... one big hit on my head. That's it.. another thing that I'm lacking.. focus.. that's why I end up doing nothing. I want to do so many things.. I end up doing a little bit here and there - nothing accomplished.
Oh well perhaps there are "some" things accomplished. I managed all data gathering and preparation of tools and content.. but still.. there's no real determination in getting it done. Perhaps I need to get desperate. But I am kinda desperate right now. I'm desperate to get excited to see the results, desperate to fill my time with something "intellectually challenging" .. other than "parental challenge". And most of all desperate to see some RM pouring into my bank account out of my efforts.
I guess this is the real dilemma of me being a SAHM. I lack the focus, motivation and determination.. despite the desperation that I'm feeling. I hope I will not head to failure.. They say you have to fail first, it's a BIG step towards success. I truly agree.. hey but I am so afraid of failure. I have never really failed.. not really so successful either.. but I get through. I got through school, I got through college, I got through 15 years of working life. That's all there is, I got through. It's pathetic. No real success.
The only success so far that I see is raising my kids which is even then I am not sure of the real result until they grow up and live their lives "successfully". And this .. I swear.. I will not just go through it. I am working hard for it because I can feel the pain of raising them. I have my all my emotions surfacing while taking care of them. So I pray hard ... I will tread through this one.. and I will be successful.
I'm straying away from what I was gonna write.. being focused. Now that I've lashed out everything here.. perhaps today onwards, I will take action and hope for the best results rather than wonder how it would turn out. All the best to me!
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