Day 8 - All done!

All cars are all smiles!

Day 7: Promises delivered

So my trusted Contractor really did deliver his promise to complete the whole thing in 7 days!
From breaking the existing unfinished floor, clearing the debris, drilling and compacting, laying the reinforced concrete floor, getting the awning done, finishing the new floor (getting ready for the new tiles), fixing the new tiles, fixing the ceiling and finishing the electrical wiring and fixing the lighting!

Almost done

And now the new porch/garage is ready and all the four cars can now conveniently be parked under the shade! I am very happy with this little home improvement project! Thank you to my long lost Contractor friend whom I shall never meet again if it was not because of my office client! Kudos!

Day 6 - laying the floor tiles

The floor tiles guys came back today early in the morning to lay the tiles. We were glad that they could still find the same patterned tiles like we already had on the two adjacent porches.

So engrossed!

Almost done!

Day 5 - getting the floor ready for the tiles

Two men working under the hot sun
manually mixing the cement and the sand
for the tiles!

The two workmen started their work as early  as 8.30a.m. They had a mission: to finish the flooring today!

Working hard to get the floor even

And the floor is ready before 5p.m.

I am impressed with the rate these two men were doing their work. They hardly talked to each other and they seemed to know very well who was to do what! I guess that is the difference between these workers and the other workers I have had working for me! Kudos guys!

Day 4 - fixing the awning

Fixing the awning to shade on the other half of the house. She wasn't there to monitor the work but trust the workers would do well. Once these are done,  they are going to fix the ceiling, do the electrical wiring and  fixing the lighting.

The awning is done!

Day 3: Laying the groundwork!

Its Day 3. And these men turned up to lay the groundwork for the next stage.

The compactor sure rattled a lot! And I think that these guys bones were shaken so badly! But these guys seem unperturbed and they followed the rythm of the compactor!

Breaking and compacting the ground

My debris, his filler

The team having casual discussion every now and then

 I found it amazing to see these guys synchronizing their work with the other team. Today, the floor tiles guy was  here to check how many tiles we would need and what color. They will be back on Wednesday! Yeay! 

Neatly done!

And at the end of the day, they left the construction site looking very happy for they got to do what they were supposed to do for the day! Mission accomplished! Good job guys! :-)

The successful market visit!

Its Saturday. And we were up very early. After having a simple early breakfast, performed the morning prayer, we decided to visit the market. We headed to the normal place where the market was supposed to be. Expecting to buy some ribs and meat and fish. But we were taken by surprise that the market is abandoned! There were not butchers, no marketeers but for one or two!

Abandoned stalls!

Business doesn't look good at all!

Fresh or frozen?

 And we now knew where to go for fresh beef. And my husband and I pleasantly discovered that next to this smaller market (only 3 doors shop) there is a nursery!

Loads of fresh beef

 And we ended up with one rib, 1 kg of Batang Pinang and 1kg of fish! And we couldnt help but to hate those who insisted to build the Big Market in such a secluded area. And the market is at worst, unkept. Broken floor tiles not mended, Torn fibre glass sheet under the roof not attended to. Obviously the person who insisted that the market be built there is NOT from here to understand what the local people want! And it will soon be completely abandoned and the whole thing will become such an eye sore and pocket hurting! :-(  

Its time to rock and roll the tarts!

Its has been more than two weeks into Ramadhan. The fasting month has so far been so great. I had started making these beautiful Double Rolled Pineapple Tarts. This time I bought the pineapple jam from a home trader in my hometown. But the jam has a lot of big chunks of pineapple and the 'pineapple eyes'! I had to spend so much time, picking them out so as to make my tarts neat!

Ready to roll!

Ready for the oven

   And I shall be making more of these today! :-)~


 

You attract what you were thinking about: an affirmation!

My sister, her family and my husband and I were spending the last weekend at my Mom's. We worked together to spring clean her long "abandoned" house. Perhaps due to her old age, she experience some kind of phobia to stay alone in that small house!

A very misty morning

The spring cleaning team!

And we worked the whole day! And then we realized that the fridge was empty and the kitchen was not ready to be used. And my sister (2nd from right) and I (not in the picture!) decided to go to the bazaar to buy food for the breaking of fast. I was looking for jelly puddings but to no avail. And we broke fast happily with what we could get from the bazaar. And after about 10p.m. we left for our respective homes.

And the next Monday, I had a surprise visit from my friend at the office. And I was again startled to see what she had so kindly brought for me!

Coconut milk and palm sugar jelly pudding!

 And I was the happiest person at the breaking of fast that Monday! Thank you friend for making what I was thinking about came alive!
P.S.: Perhaps I should start thinking that that delinquent client of mine would walk up my office this Monday, knocking at my door, waving that fat cheque into my face!!!

You attract what you were thinking about!

I didn't know whether to laugh or to ponder in disbelieve when a good friend of mine posted this picture on Facebook and asked me if it is true!

Found in Brisbane!

And yes, it was scarily true! My name is Jun(e) and I am 45 this year and I have been driving this same model car since January this year! Ha ha ha so now I knew what this friend of mine has been thinking! Should I feel proud or what? :-)~

So it is true that you attract what you were thinking about! And this friend of mine was equally scared at what appeared right before the eyes that morning! 

Day 1 & 2: Instantaneous Double Garage project during Ramadhan!

I was said to be thinking in pictures. And most of the times, I see good if not interesting pictures in my mind. For the past few months, I have been seeing all the four cars being parked nicely next to each other under a shaded area. I knew I will have these cars properly parked outside the house and protected from the cold night air and icy dew in the morning.

 

Day 1 : breaking the existing cemented floor

 And I knew I can have this picture in my mind manifested when I found my long lost Contractor friend who did my existing covered garage at my existing house. But that garage can only accommodate one car. And that one car is none other than mine! So my husband's and children's cars had to tolerate the torment of those cold night air and yes, icy cold dew towards the end of the night! Well, soon, these won't happen again!

Day 2: Replaced old water pipe and realigned them
to be at the centre of the two garage spaces

Day 2: workmen busy at work
The guy in red was fasting
while doing this hard work!

 On the second day,  I could see that these workmen were still hacking the cemented floor and removing all the broken floor slabs by hands! And towards the afternoon, the guy in red showed no sign of tiredness despite him fasting the whole day!

I can hardly wait to see how my new double garage would look like.

These workmen are going to come back today (Day 3) to continue building the floor and later fixing the new garage tiles!

All in a day's work!

1.  Its always ok to wait than be waited for.

2.  Old obscene habit dies hard : pointing with one's middle finger while talking!

3.  Letter to fellow Solicitors should be written in English! Only letters to the Government Departments should be written in Bahasa Melayu.

4.  Some people mistook her for being Indian! (Later someone told her that it was because of her high forehead and cheek bones and the way she carries herself!) What a description! Ha ha

5.  Its annoying to hear people saying "Huh?!" (more so loudly!) instead of "Excuse me".

6.  Being punctual is a good habit. It speaks a lot about your personality.

7.  When a Senior Lawyer greeted you "How have you been doing? I have not seen you for quite some time" it means "I would like to have coffee with you!" ;-o~

8. When no. 7 happens, wait for the said Senior Lawyer (especially if he is a Criminal Lawyer) at the Court's canteen for coffee. You may get free advise/tips on how to conduct a good interview with a potential suspected criminal! Then be generous to pay for his coffee (as a gesture of gratitude) when he had to rush back into the Courtroom!

9. Always carry yourself well. You'll never know who is watching (other than God!).

10.  When something you bought is useless to you, give it away to someone who can use it better (gave away that curl maker to Camy the Hair Stylist). And she was all smiles!

11.  When the team member showed signs of unhappiness (by making a lot of noise with her papers and files), you keep your mouth shut. Pretend like you did not hear all those noises. At the same time, think of what are the possible causes of the unhappiness and take remedial action earliest possible.

12. When it comes to money, work your butt out (worked until late today to finish that fat bill!) if you have to.

13. It is annoying to hear that paper-being-flipped-hard sound. Make a louder paper-being-flipped sound to let them know how annoying that sound could be!

14.  When the intelligent level is that much, there is nothing much you can do about it. Keep on guiding and training. But take care of your heart!

    

Ushering in Ramadhan!

In less than 10 days, the much awaited Ramadhan is here! And in anticipation, we welcome this holy month of Ramdhan with lots of dua and prayers.

Today she was given the opportunity she did not want to miss to attend the last Yaasin reciting event at a neighbor's house. The cooling weather was such a blessing! It made the guests all feel very much at ease and the event went on without much challenges.

All ladies group reciting the dua

New Mother with her new baby!

Songs to praise the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

The sweet door gifts for all guests!

Mother encouraging her young daughter
to participate in such event 

Yummy food !

Fluffy colorful buttered rice
(Nasi Hujan Panas)

Ramadhan brings peace to the world!

 It was great to be in the company of all these ladies. Everyone was eager to welcome Ramadhan!

Until next time. To all my muslim readers, I wish you Ramadhan Mubarak!  

When living is existing!

Life is too fast and too short 

The first half of life is either spent or wasted

For good or bad reasons the soul knows best

And it was just so amazing 

At how much men couldn't accomplish

Within that given time

It would have been very relieving

To prove some people wrong

When they told that nothing can happen

But neither help nor assurance was forth-coming

To help prove those careless words wrong

And wonder sets in

What exactly shared life is all about

When nothing impresses any more

When living feels like existing

Who will be my protective big tree? 

Stung!

Swollen left hand

 My left hand was stung by a house bee this morning. It was a small bee that flocked the lights at home. I think it came from the mango trees around the house. Its the fruiting season of the mango trees! Earlier I was stung at the biceps and it took almost 3 days for the swell to subside. And the worst part was it was so itchy  as it was subsiding!

The D & G (Dead and Gone) Culprit

Maiden ride and inaugural visit!

I told you she is doing okay!

 Today, we took time to bring our sister and brother-in-law to visit their daughter at UiTM Puncak Alam, Shah Alam, Selangor for the first time since she enrolled into this Varsity two weeks ago (on the day I wrote this up!). 

I could see that my sister-in-law missed her youngest child. They have never been away from each other for the past 17 years. And I could see that this girl adapts well with her new environment and friends (as compared to Yours Truly who was practically weeping the earlier weeks away!) Shame! Shame! ;-)~. 

And I noticed that lunch sold at the Cafeteria has improved so much especially on the variety and taste! Great!

Father and son catching up with each other

 And my eldest son was very kind to have agreed to drive us there! So that Daddy can have a little rest before we drove back home (in 4 hours due to some stupid traffic jam!).

No Visitors Beyond This Area 

 And we reached home at about 9.30p.m. A complete whole day outing -  for a good cause!
We were glad to be able to give them their maiden ride in our new car. And they were grateful for being given an opportunity to pay their inaugural visit to their daughter!

A day of Epilogues!

Epilogue 1

Whot?! I can't hear you!

A good communicator conveys his message in his speech well. A great communicator listens beyond the words. Period.
Our Judge had on more than one occasions hinted to one of the co-parties Counsel in a case (in which I am one of the Counsels) that the forum for their Writ of Summons was not right. Instead of that Court, Judge was hinting that it should have been filed at another Court. Since 1st March, 2012 the Court civil jurisdiction has been increased. But that hints were not taken for reasons best known to them.
Today, the Judge again hinted the same thing. But I was not sure why didn't the Counsel listen or notice. Hence that hint again went into thin air. 
And when the decision was delivered, the Counsel listened! But it was too late. To lose a court case at whatever stage of the proceedings mean the client would have to incur extra time and costs (to file an Appeal etc. etc.). Those costs and time could have been easily saved had the Counsel listened to the Judge's hints. It proved to be more costly not to listen than to do just that! 

Epilogue 2

I can't wait!

I always think in pictures. And today I saw two happy parents' faces smiling. I wasn't sure why were they smiling but I knew I can make them happy. 
My sister and brother in law had their youngest child enrolled college at Puncak Alam, Selangor without them. They had to attend a close relative's wedding at Terengganu the same day their daughter had to register for college. They have never been apart from each other for at  least 17 years. I watched this girl grow right from her cradle! And I can understand how my sister-in-law feel not being able to send her daughter (youngest child) off on her important day!
This morning, my husband and I decided to send them to see their daughter at college for the first time tomorrow. And I was informed that the minute she was informed about that visit, she was screaming with excitement! 
And I knew I saw the right picture in my mind! I can hardly wait to see her smiling tomorrow!

 Epilogue 3

Oh Dear! What a day!  

I almost lost my cool at the office. That was bad. I knew it. Imagine yourself attending to a non client, age about 70, has difficulties in making his mind up and talked about the same thing repeatedly, in a stammering manner, and on top of all those has hearing challenges! It was about 3p.m. on a Friday afternoon! I thought I would want to ignore him, but my conscience told me to be polite and listen attentively to what he wanted to say. I was maintaining my mannerism by maintaining eye contact with him each time he spoke. But at the same time I knew my patience was wearing thin! And he hit me the most when he told me that he meant to rent  his house (a permanent house built on land) only and not the land on which the house was built! And he meant to rent out his sheeps shed without the grazing area outside the shed! My oh my! ha ha ha  




     

The fierce waves, the seasoned sea banks and the morning sun!

Honestly, as a Lawyer, I always hope to give correct and precise advise to those who need them. Over the years my records have been clean. Over the years I was saved of complaints and upsetting remarks. I could take pride in that records. My conscience has always been very clear. Until that unfaithful day. But one not so positive remarks in years of practice (17 years) I think is a very, very good record. But one such remarks is too many and too detrimental at the same time.

Let me be like the banks 

   At first, it was detrimental to my mind. I kept thinking how could I have overlooked this? To me it was a genuine overlook. But to the others, it was simply unacceptable! 

And I wish I am like the banks of this sea. Hardened and seasoned by the daily whippings of the unforgiving waves and strong winds!

And after two weeks, I now have learnt to count my blessings and accept that one mishap as an opportunity to better myself. 

Morning is broken!

And I decided to allow those who were not happy with me to take their own sweet time to cool it off. And in the mean time, I stopped thinking about what had happened and focused on what I want to do. I am only human, after all. And what matters most was that the minute I was told about the overlook, I raised my two hands and admitted my mistake and offered an apology, from the very bottom of my heart. I am not God. I am bound to make mistakes. And I have already said I was sorry.      

And I knew one fine day, they would realize that I can make mistakes. And so can them. 

And I pray everyday that they will forgive me. I knew in their mind that they were upset. But in their heart, they still care. 

And when I found out that that "one day" has came, I feel so grateful. That feeling of gratefulness (for being forgiven) was like seeing the morning sun. It gives hopes and a sense of inner peace. And I am grateful to be given such a great lesson in life (to expect the unexpected!).

I hope this inspire others to take full responsibility of what you had done (especially the not so good ones). Save your breath on explaining. Nobody wants to listen. Just tell them what they want to hear: Yes, you are right. Its my mistakes and I am sorry!

Have a great if not awesome day and week ahead, guys! Embrace each and everyday like there is no tomorrow! 

- Yours Truly   

Batu Layar beach

Despite the strong sun, these children found the sea was irresistible. It was almost 2pm  when they all stopped playing in the water. It was a Saturday and the place was reasonably packed.

Najmuddin

 This is my eldest son, Najmuddin. He seemed to be enjoying the sea and the children's company that he completely forgot about the scorching sun!

Back to Front: Lais, Amirul, Shafiq

 Shafiq, Amirul and Lais enjoying themselves on the rock!

The two sisters: Ichah and Ikin

 And Ikin and Ichah, did  too!

Untouched beauty

 The ever inviting sea!

Its great to be here!

Jumee, Yours Truly, Mother and Ikin - sharing the good time at the beach.

Wait and see no more!

Attending the Pejabat Tanah & Galian Johor at Nusajaya on a Friday could be a heart wrenching experience. That was those days. Perhaps 10 years ago. Now the new queuing system made the throbbing heart more manageable! In less than 2 hours, I managed to get everything done with no hassle at all! Kudos to the Registration Department of the PTG! 

Waiting for my turn!

 While waiting I took the opportunity to pick up come light conversations (other than reading my book!)  with some runners. And my immediate neighbor traveled all the way from Mersing which is more than 2 hours away to do the same kind of job. And his number was 3040. And he managed to get it done quite fast too!   

I have 4012,  4013 and 3049

And I appreciate the efficiency of this department for they can be said as the heart and soul of the whole PTG! And what makes it more interesting is that the Titles can be collected in the same day if you have nothing else to do but wait for them to be done! And that was relieving!

Kudos again!