OUR BELOVED GREY

Adik keeps on asking me to blog about Grey,so here goes.......

She came to our place about two years ago. She was so fierce and oh so filthy with infection on one the ears. Despite all that, we could see that she is a beauty. Abang and Adik fell in love with her straight away....but she wouldnt let anybody touched her. So, you two fed her fresh milk under the garden table for one whole week. Then, slowly you lured her into our house and the rest is history....

The name came from Mama as at that time Mama was so into Grey's Anatomy and thought she has the same sad, green eyes as Meredith Grey. Later on mama realised that they do share same other traits as well (where opposite gender are concern......)

Mama and Abah were not exactly the cat-loving persons but Grey 'grows' on us. On most nights, we could hear Abah,as the last person to sleep in the house, lovingly cajoled Grey to go out through the window . He would talk to Grey as he would us. Something like," gi tidur kat luar sayang, esok Abah nak gi masjid, boleh masuk lagi..." . I myself never imagine that I could love a cat this much. But Grey is really a special cat. (I'm sure other cat owners feel the same towards their own cats!) Every morning, soon as Abah opens the door to go the mosque for Fajr solat, she would jump in and make a beeline to mama's room. Jump on the bed, kiss mama all over while meowing "maaaw,maaaw.....endlessly until mama wakes up. ( it really sounds like she's calling me Mama!) And if she found Mama already on the prayer mat, she will quietly sit besides me and kiss my head whenever I make prostration. After that, a hectic running to Abang and Adik's room waking and urging them to fill up her bowl in the kitchen. Post breakfast, a drink in the fish bowl as she wouldnt drink from any other water sources. While at it, she always do it very gently, making sure all the small fish in the bowl swim away to the bottom before she starts lapping up the water. Then, she will lazily stretch her full length and 'park' herself somewhere near Abang's room. from then on, she will make no fuss. We hardly hear her most of the times, not even when she's hungry. She will just follow us to the kitchen and look at us with her sad eyes which just melt your heart and make you feed her no matter how lazy you are and how fat she is!! She is a quiet cat. Except from her morning routine, we could hardly hear her if not for the bell on her neckcollar. And, every night, around 9, you will find her lounging on the carpet in our family area where we held our nightly ta'alim....that's really make her a part of our family as everyone in the family would be there for it.

Next week she has another appointment with the vet. I dread this.....this is the second attempt at spaying her. The first one was aborted as she was already carrying litters in her tummy when the vet cut her open. It was a heart wrenching occasion for all of us....seeing her waking up from induced sleep, walked like a drunken and oh, those stitches...they were awful. Mama's the only one she allowed to rub medication on it. And it was all for nothing. If only the animals hospital has a scanner......

We decide to neuter her because she has been giving birth too often which resulted in her being dehydrated and has a deficiency of calcium and other vitamins. The vet had to give 3 injections the other day. It was quite a mystery to us on how she could get a mate as she is one fierce cat. Many a time we saw her chasing cats out of our compound and it was always hilarious. She is FAT and always move very slowly and gracefully ( Abang and Adik truly believe that she is a royal cat! An aristocat....influenced by Disney!) but she abandons it all when she's chasing other cats. It look so funny with her big belly and even bigger tail. And it gets funnier if she starts to berleter as well.Not unlike Mama Abah said............But then, we know that she had a boyfriend, Eric, Uncle Nik's tomcat....the only one she allows in. The mystery is Eric is so old and hasnt been visiting for a long time and Grey very rarely goes out of our compound.

Anyway...that's for her to know and for us never to find out.

I'm dreading the day I have to collect her from the vet after the operation.....Abang and Adik will be no help here. You cant even look at the stitches , let alone cleaning and caring for them. And as usual, Grey will only let me near her when she's in pain.... Do you still remember when you tried feeding her antibiotics? She will try to scratch you but she'll never do that to mama....instead she'll hide her face in the crook of my arms....so funny and so cute kan!!

Grey, we all love you so much!!

WE DID IT AGAIN!

Having successfully executed the task of traveling alone with you kids once, Abah trusted me to repeat the process...... this time around it was a breeze and we found abah lounging at the sentral station instead of hovering like the last time.

It was nothing to other people I guess, but, to me , it was an achievement! 

Those who knew me, know very well how 'incapable' I am, with all blames should go to Abah who has been pampering and spoiling me for so long.....you know how he would draw  maps for me if I have to go somewhere by myself, charting the easiest way,the ones that I dont have to cross the road, the one with least traffic etc etc. And call me  afew times during that!! ( this is pre-GPS era of course!!...)

And all these places are right here in Kota Bharu where I've been living for more than half of my life! And surely you know that I cannot cross the road without hanging on someone's arm....I'm sorry you have such a 'lembik' mother. Abang understands this very well. BUT..... looks like I'm improving, am I not?? hehehe......

Anyway,so there we were in KL for the weekends. And it was a good one. We got to visit Tok Su who broke her wrist trying to pick up rambutans for Kak Chik Illa. Despite still being in cast, Tok Su still manage to fetch us from Shang-ri La hotel and cooked her much- loved fish curry for you Abang! And Kak Chik drove me to Taman Tun to see Kak Shara's son, the adorable Rayyan. And...I got to visit Munawwarah and got something for me....fair lah kan, you got some stuff from Isetan @ KLCC. We even got something for Grey, brewer's yeast for better and shinier coat, but sadly, she refused to take it when we tried giving her this morning. She missed us so much I think and is acting up to show her dissatisfaction of being left at home.

(update: talked to cat expert aka Kak chik and got a tip of how to give the tablets to grey. Her Tom just took it without fuss!)

And today, you two will start your mid year exam......dont know how you will fare, with no study at all during the weekend....hopefully you'll be okay, especially adik now that you have mastered (almost) the multiplication tables. You did badly in math during April test due to the failure to memorize the sifir. Hopefully you'll do better this time around. And I must remind myself not to feel upset if the result is not as I expect.....(must remember pesan Abah.)

As for Abang, I must say that I'm happy with your improvement especially in Bahasa Melayu. Your karangan used to make us laugh so hard, with your rojak bahasa and mixture of written and spoken bahasa. Remember the ' Tulis surat kepada ibu anda......' and you went, Bonda, apa khabar? Anakanda sihat . Bonda tentu boring kat rumah sebab Abang takde, bla bla blaa...." Off course your teacher had to fail you on that!

I told Abah that I could liken you two to the story of the rabbit and the tortoise. Adik, you are the rabbit. You started very fast and full of energy, then you started to slow down and almost sleep! Abang was slow yet he never stop....and look at him today. He got all A's save for Kemahiran Hidup in last test. And he's still improving. He almost never complain of the amount of work I give as both of you,unlike your classmates, do not attend any tuition classes. 

As for you Adik, susah sikit tarik muka and go to your room and sleep it off!! You are so clever adik, everybody who knows you could so testify to it, but look at your last test result....in year 1 and 2, you could pull it off effortlessly, but you must realise the fact that the lessons got harder and you must work likewise. You expect everything to be easy....that's not the way of this life Adik.

Be a good muslim and you'll get that kind of free and easy life in the Hereafter, okay!

SORRY........

Abang and Adik....

Sometimes I think I am too harsh on you two......

I"m so sorry...I really am. Lately, it seems that I got more easily upset more often. I guess separation from Abah does contribute to all these short fuses. I"m so upset now that I upset with you this morning. It doesnt make sense, does it? Anyway, that's how I'm feeling as I'm rambling now.....

I even made Abah felt guilty for these (for being away in Ipoh)....I'm just a bad mother, bad wife. I know you are just being you, an 11 and 9 y.o. To you, everything is a game. You play while you take your shower, you play with your breakfast thingy, you play with each other while brushing teeth thus spraying white bubbles everywhere, you even play while reciting the holy qur'an.....It just got on my nerve today!

Adik, you never switch the lights and the hot water off no matter how many times I remind you. You never pick your pyjamas up, it was always left in front of the toilet's door. Abang takes forever to undress, shower, made ablution and pray....I 've finished reciting Yaasin and he hasnt come out from the toilet yet despite waking up before azan. 

Waking up is another nuisance. Both of you set alarm,5.30am.... so while I was trying to offer my very last minute tahajjud, both of your alarm will set off, ting tong ting tong ting tong......but you never wake up. I've to cut short my prayer and put it off and wake you up 'manually'.

Every night,I make sure the latest you would be in bed is 9.30, depends on Isya' time. After our taalim session, it straight up to the bed, no dilly dallying. Dinner always before Maghrib, milk and cookies after quran recitation after maghrib, brush teeth, wee-wee and Isya'. Then off you are to the la la land...You have got enough sleep!

Aaaaaanyway.......

I have to start thinking of the good things about you kids, before it gets to me. Aha, I suddenly realised what was the trigger factor of all this upset feeling....your monthly test result!! I was taking a look at them after you two went to bed last night. Must speak to Abah now!!!

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Spoken to Abah, and the off to my lunch date with Kak Jae and Ina dearest....and I'm cured!!

Abah told me not to be upset over things which are not more valuable than half of a mosquito's wing in the eyes of Allah...

I should be grateful that I have a son who at the age of 11 has memorized so many surahs. Amongst them,as sajdah, al mulk, ad dukhan, al waqi'ah,al qiamah and many more(not counting the short surahs in juz Amma). Infact more than I myself could memorize.....I think you have memorized up to 12 surahs so far. And I must admit I do benefit from it as well. As a result of doing the tasme' for you I have succeeded in memorising some of the surahs as well. Plus, when we travel and no quran is available, we could still read the surahs that we recite daily, thanks to you.

And I should be proud that you love to go to the mosque, trying hard to catch up all the five times of solat at the mosque. All these are more meaningful than those academic marks...and as a matter of fact, those marks are not that bad either.....it just that, mama is so kiasu!!

As for you Adik, for a 9 y.o, you have done a good job making up your bed and tidying up your room. You put on the bedcover so nicely and arrange the pillows and your soft toys so neatly. And you always make me laugh with your antics....and to be truthful, I shouldnt be upset at all with your result. It was over 90% afterall...it just that I know you could do better. And, more importantly, you have memorized Surah Yaasin as well as al Mulk and as Sajdah...since last year, a feat that only came to me in my thirties......

My girls day out with kak Jae and Ina(soon to deliver her last child) also helped a lot......thanks a lot guys.... We should do it again.

So, my darlings....I'm sorry I lost my temper this morning.

SCHOOL HOLS AND A VISIT FROM THE PAST

School 2-weeks mid year break will be over tomorrow...how time flies. We didnt go anywhere this time, just attending the never ending kenduris and receiving our relatives yang balik kampung. How our house came alive with all the noise.....

The highlights of this schoolholiday would be the visit from Mama's friend, Aunty Dr Normi who came along with the whole family. It was so nice of them to come and visit us again. This is actually the second time they came, the first visit was 4 years ago. What touches me is how Normi always remember and appreciate me baby-sitting her first two wonderful daughters long time ago. And I know she always tell Kak Long and Kak Ngah about me. These two girls are 17 and 15 now and turn out to be very beautiful girls and well behaved too. I kind of proud of them....

Normi and Husband were doing their PhD at that time and I was childless and quite lonely when Abah was attending his classes . We were living in the same building and I used to see her and her husband bundling their kids,then 5 and 3, every morning to the car and sent them somewhere quite far from where we live. On a heavily snowing day, it was not an easy task....and if it wasnt snowing, it was always very windy in Glasgow....and always raining too!

I knew she wanted to ask me to look after her kids but kind of segan la,konon2nya takkan lah orang macam Mama nak babysit anak orang.... so, I decided to offer my service, free of charge, of course. But, Normi wont listen to it....but she really wanted her kids to be with me. Thus began our 'fights' .......she wanted to pay me, I didnt want to accept, she paid me nevertheless, I reproach in kinds etc,etc...

And our friendship began.

I took care of them as if they were my own.....they used to get scolded by me, Kak Long said she remembered how strict I was especially when it came to mengaji....and at the same time they also got to be manja-manja with me.

All in all, it was a win-win situation. I helped them saved on their time and money and the kids kept me occupied and happy. And I could always sent them home if Abah asked me to accompany him somewhere as Normi and husband usually did their study at home.

What amazed me is, how easy it was for you, Abang and Adik, to 'click' with them, as if all of you have known each other from day one. It happened on their first visit and happened again last week.....I guess my 'touch' was there after all......and I do realize now that those time spent baby-sitting them had been a good training ground for me.

Well, school starts again on Monday, and both of you will right away sit for your tahfiz test. Abang will be tested on Surah ad Dukhan and Adik on al Mulk. No problem for adik as you have memorised it since last year and been reciting it every night between maghrib and Isya' time . Hope Abang will do okay too, you still have tonite and tomorrow to perfect it. Other schoolworks were done in the first few days of the break..... I'll be lonely again Monday, Abah off to Ipoh tomorrow and both of you will be at school from 8 to 4. Sigh.....