Taking Time Off from Work....to Work

Little Princess was under the weather today. (I should stop calling her that as she is growing up so fast.....Young Lady Princess?)

Anyway, the young lady woke up with a fever. Her brother looked at her suspiciously...

"Yes, she is sick" I assured him.

So, off he went to school and I contemplated about work. What a wonderful excuse to take the day off work to catch up on work. That sounded bad...from both a motherly perspective and a professional one too. But my instinct tells me I should try to stay at home. So, I made a few phone calls, (quite a few!...almost took me 45 minutes to settle and delegate work) and I informed the office about my Emergency Leave.

Ok, settled the young lady with her breakfast and plenty of fluids.

Then I sat at my computer and did as much work as I could.

Come midday I get a call from the The Boss.

"I'm on leave today Sir....... ok.......just today. I'll be back at work tomorrow"

There was an uncomfortable silence on his side. I knew he wanted me to come in.

"Ok, I'll make myself available. What time? 3.30pm. Ok, I'll see you then". Urgh. Succumbed to his demands (again).

Had to leave the house with Young Lady alone for a few hours until Big Brother came home. She said she would be fine.

Got to the meeting. Sat down. A red faced Caucasian was visiting, and somebody obviously forgot to put on sunscreen during a sunny outing....

I looked at him. I know this guy....where have I seen him before?

I thought very hard.....and BINGO! I know! Hahahaha....I giggled to myself. He was the spitting image of Leslie Nielsen. Great. Now I had to take the image of Naked Gun 2½ out of my head and at least try to concentrate. Hehehehe....not doing a good job at it though.

Oh well, at least I got a bit of pleasure at laughing to myself through the meeting, on my day off of work.

In the mood....for nothing

Its been a hectic, emotionally draining 4 weeks. I've been keeping myself busy with things both at work and at home. Most of work comes home though, so basically its been all work....

A big chunk has been completed, but the next wave is on it's way. I can see the tide residing before the next tsunami hits shore. I hope this little gap is enough for a breather.

So tonight, I am in the mood for nothing. Maybe a "non-gray matter required" movie? Sleep sounds good too.

Oh, how I wish I had my doses of evening comfort. Not only that, he was my pillar of strength and just knowing that he was there for me meant the world. Knowing that he was there to listen to my daily rants, give me sound advice, and someone to talk to and lean on. Then followed the doses of laughter with our silly jokes and things we are 'not allowed to say'. The sheeps and monkeys have ears you see......I hope I was as good for him as he was for me. Oh, I miss him so much.

"Hi! I'm sitting under an umbrella in a building....."

These are the quirky weird things I like telling him.

And yes, I am sitting under an umbrella in a building, drinking expensive coffee and eating dry cake that tastes like cardboard. And yes, I have tasted cardboard.....so,there is a point of reference there.

Anyway, on duty for the next three days. Kids are not with me and I already miss them terribly. But I will take this opportunity to write up my paper in record time. I have 2 days to write the paper! Yes I can, yes I can, yes I can.

But blogging will not help with my mission though....

Post 101

Yes, it's post number 101.

Hmmmm......either I have too much time on my hands, or I spend too much time at the PC. But writing does help with untangling the thoughts, especially when you really don't have that special someone to talk too.

Don't get me wrong, family support has been the greatest, and I could not have asked for any better. But for those that are "spoused", you know that there are things that only spouses can be told, where the info is received and digested. Or it could be that they have no choice but to receive and digest. Nevertheless, they are there.

And I miss that.

Trying to Keep the Ties

I'm not sure how to keep the ties strongly bonded after his mum passed away in May. This year will be the first Eid without her back at Kampung.

"Umi, will we be going back to Teluk Intan?"asked the kids.

We have never failed to go back to visit during Eid festivities after his passing, except for the year that we were abroad. The reason was mainly to visit his mum and cousins.

Now that she is gone, the house has been left unoccupied. We no longer have a place to go home to. My sister in law has a house there, but it is just not quite the same.

We decided to do a day trip back on 3rd Eid.

The trip there was a smooth drive as the roads were relatively empty. We chatted in the car, as the kids kept me talking (and kept me awake). We recalled the first few trips home after their ayah passed away. Little Princess was barely 4 years old. She took the drive back to Teluk Intan very badly, crying and screaming most of the way there. I wonder what was going through her head then. She must have felt so confused, and the trip must have been an emotional drain to her. When we reached Grandma's house, she refused to get out of the car....The whole neighbourhood must have heard her scream.

Gradually, just like everything else, things got better.

We reached Teluk Intan in good time.

"Can we see ayah's old school?" a favourite request by the kids.

"How did ayah go to school?" they asked.

"Ayah walked to school." I replied, and another favourite story about how he had lost his shoes walking in the mud after heavy rain was told again.

We drove the long way to my sis in law's house so as just to drive by mum's place. We slowed down as the kids looked on. The house from the outside was clean and very empty. Her pot plants on the car porch were no longer there. It was lifeless. No cars, no grandchildren gathering and sitting out on the porch this year, all the windows closed shut.



We got to my sister's place just in time for lunch. It was a lovely lunch cooked by my niece. We chatted about the woes of sibling squabbles and issues about inheritance. I hope they can work things out. Only my other sis in law was there. None of the other siblings came home this year. A true test of keeping ties strong. Being an in-law, I am not sure of how to keep it strong. I wish Abang was around. Even though he was the youngest, he would and could knock some sense into them.

After a very full and filling lunch, I dozed off. Yes yes, spare tyres in the making....

By 5pm, refreshed after a nap, had some tea, it was time to head home.

We stopped by to visit his mum and dad's grave.

Then the usual Petai purchase at Bidor.

The trip back was a lot heavier in traffic volume. We got home at 10pm. Tired but satisfied. As the kids grow older, I hope they will continue to keep the ties strong with cousins on their dad's side.