Category Archives: Home Management

Revamping the study room

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This was my study table back in Preston when I was in my third year of medical school. I chose to be in the smallest room because I liked that it was cosy but most importantly I loved the view from my window. My housemates coaxed me to just take the living hall but I felt that my room, though tiny, was enough.

I really loved my PC and my mini speakers. I am considering getting one of those ALL-IN-ONE (AIO) set soon. It is such a hassle to disconnect my laptop and pack up the wires to work every day. Especially now when I am doing quite a few things on my laptop. I saw a few sets from HP, ASUS and ACER that I’ve put in my shopping cart at Shopee. Just waiting for the right time to purchase it.

My room at Preston
Studying at night
View from my window. I loved flowers and it was easily purchased at our local grocery store. As you can see I also had a lot of love for books and cute stuff.

It certainly brings back a lot of memories when it comes to studying. I am currently in the final year of my psychology studies. Soon, I will have to conduct my final year project. I created an environment that would encourage me to focus and study better for the year. I have decluttered much of my fiction books and have exercised patience, not giving in to the lust of purchasing more books. I take it back. I bought new books. I took out my worn-out black bookshelf from my study and purchased two new bookshelves from Shopee.

It was cheap because it was online. Meaning I have to assemble it myself. Indeed, I managed to do it ALL BY MYSELF. Penat tau tak. It was a very heavy bookshelf. Still, it took me less than 1 week to get it sorted out. I also bought a PVC cover for my wide Japanese study table. I just need a few more things to make it complete. One purchase at a time, limited to budget and space. Even now it is already a great setting and I look forward to my 11th semester.

Will update later.

Purchased RAK BESI and started sorting stuff

Posted in Everyday Life, Home Management, Online Store, Reviews by

My husband pissed me off. So I was on a Cleaning Mode. Lucky bastard! By the way, if you’re reading to find out what he said, you’re not going to find it here. Anyway, I get into this really zealous mode of cleaning whenever I get mad at something. The energy has shifted from reckless driving & shouting in the car to Marie Kondo mode. Then, I start throwing everything into the trash or donate everything to the recycling clothes bin. Sometimes I forgot to say thank you to the stuff.

I ordered 4 sets of steel racks from Rak Besi, a small enterprise based in Melaka. The racks were delivered and assembled at my house and upon completion, I transferred the money online to the seller. Total damage was RM675.00.

I rearranged my kids toys in the dark, activity room. I am still finding ways to make it cozy. The husband had a lousy design idea when he renovated the house. So we will have to make do with what we have.

And then I took on the big task of sorting out the porch. The porch which is rarely swept, rarely cleaned yet housing all sorts of junk. Including a big, unused motorcycle! It was damaged in an accident where my husband dislocated his finger a few years. He is having a hard time to let it go. I honestly don’t know what he plans to do with it.

I underestimated the weight of the bike as I soon discovered handling it is no small feat. But because I had so much anger, I had enough strength to maneuver it around as I also, dragged the biggest rack of all from my living room to the porch. I am expecting a 500g weight loss on my scale coming morning with all this heavy lifting!

There’s still a lot of things to be done. I still need to clean the porch floor. Declutter my storage area. Sell my books. Once I get all that sorted out, I can start with my garden project, sell my car and then maybe, plan a holiday.

PKPP will start today till 30th August 2020.

One can’t just go buy a new house whenever you feel like it. A house needs to be maintained and given a fresh makeover every now and again. We should learn how to fix things or at least know how to find someone who can do the fixing for you. As homeowners, we should schedule yearly cleanups of some sort like cuci tangki.

Same thing with having a wife. Some men are lucky they have wives who can maintain themselves and schedule activities to alleviate personal stress and such. Some wives kurang bernasib baik as they don’t have the means to do so. Consequently, some men end up leaving them and look for prettier pastures. Eh, tetiba.. marah sgt neh.. hehe

Hired help. Cleaners.

Posted in Everyday Life, Home Management by

I caved in to hiring cleaners to help me manage the household. Now that Mr Husband is increasing away for his job on weekends, I find myself overwhelmed by the amount of work I need to put in every weekend to make sure my house is spic and span clean. Mr Husband used to be able to clean the ceiling fan and mop the floors. Now his main contribution is down to doing the laundry, bathe the kids and the occasional cooking plus minor repairs.

I had thought that if I organize my time well – I can separate my cleaning chores on a weekly basis but then discovered I have a stamina of a sloth. It’s like once I am pass the chore for the whole month, I am back at square one to repeat everything again. I’d rather spend the weekends lazing around, tend to my garden or just cook without having to think of cleaning.

It took me a while to ask around. It seems that some cleaning businesses have turned to sanitizing services because the foreign workers they hired have been sent back to their respective countries due to Covid-19. What’s left are companies that is hiring our local ladies and desperate for business which is honestly more preferable to me.

I enlisted the help of Iman Cleaning Services. They sent me 2 ladies for a fee of RM300. They will bring their cleaning stuff whilst I provide them with a vacuum cleaner and ladder. From what I gather, they are normal ladies who knows how to clean and not really like trained cleaners. Trained cleaners like myself (once upon a time) have a ‘system’ in doing things – which I tried to implement in my own home although it can be taxing to keep it clean ALL the time.

I like punctual workers. They came by at 0830am sharp. They finished about 1pm.

Having hired help is good. I just need to organize The Help in the future. I find that they missed certain spots but nothing major, just a twitch through the perfectionist lenses. So maybe next time, I will divide my houses into 2 parts to be cleaned in 2 separate slots. This is to ease their burden of duty and to ensure I have a peace of mind too.

The supervisor: a stray kitten that decided to just walk into the house and lie down on my couch

All this housekeeping chore is making me generating a wishlist in my head. Recently I bought my sister an Ecovac Robot Cleaner from Shopee. She tried it and loved it to bits. Hers doesn’t have a mop function but she loved it all the same. So, I might want to get one for myself that can both sweep and mop.

Later, I need to continue my home library project. It has been put on hold for quite some time. I need a nice reading area for myself and my kids. So, I might go shopping for nice shelves and such. If only MPH are selling their’s, it would be great.

Finally, I need to rearrange my wardrobe.The partitions are falling apart having carried the weight of my clothes for the past 8 years. The sliding door is still good hence am considering to just get a mini storage rack to put inside the wardrobe.

That’s my wish list for now. Birthday is in August.

Husband went to Japan for 13 days and left me with the kids.

Posted in Everyday Life, Home Management, Parenting, Family and Relationships by

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In my HoboMinci

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Yup. He was 3,188 Miles away. I had to make it work. In fact, I was already planning on how to go about my daily activities a few weeks back. My main concern with Mr Husband being outstation was SECURITY for me and my kids.

My second concern was of how well I could perform my duties as a wife and mother to protect MY AMANAH. And this not only involves protecting the kids but also our home, his stuff and of course – MYSELF.

 

 

THINGS I DID FOR SECURITY

  1. KNOWING HIS WHEREABOUTS –  stalking my husband through Watsapp. I made sure I knew his flight details, his place of accommodation or person of contact during his stay in Japan. This part was kinda easy because Mr Husband likes to send a lot of photos and voice messages through Watsapp. Therefore, I had a rough idea of what he is up to there. I could also in turn update him regarding the happenings around the house (like our leaking water pipe in front of the house) and about our munchkins. It was also important for me to identify key people who could help troubleshoot my problems should I encounter any. These were my parents in law of course who stayed nearby.
  2. WENT GROCERY SHOPPING EARLY – I stocked up on non-perishable goods and big stuff like juice boxes and rice packs. And toiletries that may be on low supply for the next few days. Canned items. Ninie’s milk powder and baby wipes. Technically, things that require muscles to carry them because I do not want to burden myself to do all these things later with Baby Ninie in a carrier.
  3. SETTLE ERRANDS – for instance, opening up a bank account (Tabung Haji) for Ninie. Or fueling up the car.
  4. HANG MY LAUNDRY WITH INTENT TO SHOW OFF – meaning I hang up Mr Husbands clothes as well. His work shirts, his pants. I even put out his Size 9 shoes and slippers (or is it a 10?) outside the door. Just so potential burglars could think twice before attempting to break in.
  5. SLEEP IN ATTIRE READY FOR A FIGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSE – full pants with my hijab nearby. Complete with bra. My car keys at hand, just in case I need to sound the alarm to scare away threats. Some says I’m paranoid. I call it being prepared.

THINGS I DID TO PROTECT MY AMANAH

  1. THE KIDS. Apart from ensuring the kids are safe at all times, I also have to make sure they are clean and well fed. It can be tricky with Ee hence the reason why I resorted to making Bento. Hoping to spur that appetite of his.
  2. THE HOME. I was tempted to just postpone laundry and cleaning till the days for him to come back draws near. However, a dirty abode will attract negative spirits and JINs, so I had to keep up with the cleaning. And I get to mop more frequently than ever.
  3. THE WIFE. Which means I had to protect myself from the seducing words of men.  kang tergoda. Not that I’m drop dead gorgeous but we never know with the works of Shaitan. Never ever allow a man to enter the home even if he is from the water company. Or Poslaju. For safety reasons too of course. In short, jaga kelakuan diri sendiri jugak. Jangan nakal. Dont install wechat no matter how lonely. huk huk.. 

Alhamdulilah. Nothing horrible happened during Mr Husbands absence. It was a bit exhausting though with the baby and from the adrenaline, as I was always in a Hyper Vigilant state. I was so glad when it was over. Takut weyyyyyy kalo ada anak. 

Mr Husband bought us souvenirs. I got 2 new Coach handbags, an Italian leather purse, cute socks and a Baby-G watch. With plenty of Meiji chocolates. Ee also received lots of goodies – Tamiya cars, Bento containers and swords. Ninie had pretty dresses!

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I have another stint of Mr Husband being absent again soon. He will be performing the umrah with his parents and sister. (my social support all going for umrah.. *cry blood). It will be more challenging afterwards because my leave was only granted for 3 days out of the 7 I applied for. Mana aku tak stressssssss. But I believe in miracles. I will find a solution to make it work. I always do.

An act of romanticism ..

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When I was a student in Manchester, I once went on a trip to Stratford -upon-Avon, home of the famous English poet, William Shakespeare. Those who lived there always prides in how the town has remained the way it is since the 16th century. Unchanged, unmoved despite modern civilisation.

“If Shakespeare was to rise from the dead and come back, he wouldn’t get lost because this is how it has always been”

Much romanticism I must say. I decided to put on my own form of ‘romanticism’ at home as well.

Mr Husband has been outstationed for the past few days. He was on a course in Kuala Lumpur. I had wanted to take leave and follow suit – enjoying a short break and the amenities of the hotel but I had more engaging responsibilities. This time our son is entrusted in my care as opposed to the last time he was away in Jakarta. In Jakarta, Hazeeq was with him for 5 days.

When he came back from Jakarta’s last trip, I kind of reorganized our little room at the back of the house into Hazeeq’s playroom as a surprise. They were both elated. Macam sidak ang moh.. ada little nursery. As of now, I couldn’t think of a better home project. I supposed keeping the house the way it is, would be good enough. At least, my own Shakespeare won’t lose his way around the house when he gets home.

Romanticism at its best, huh. Hakikatnya, aku malas.