cough cough go away

I have been having interrupted sleep for the past many many nights, no thanks to my constant coughing, which I totally blame on the pregnancy. It really bothers me and to top it off, I also get runny and blocked nose. What a combination! We don't always sleep with the aircond on unless when it is really hot or on warm nights. Even before I got married, I seldom sleep with the aircond on. I only need to switch on the fan at number 3 and I'll be fine. Hubby, on the otehr hand, gets warm and hot and sweaty easily. Anyway, being married is all about compromising, among others. At times when we did not switch the aircond on, he would toss and turn, fidget and move around (which of course affects my sleep) and sometimes I would find him sleeping on the floor (poor soul). When I asked him if he wanted the aircond on, he would say, "takpe, tak payah. nanti u batuk/selsema/hidung tersumbat" But I know he was uncomfortable. So on nights when we switch the aircond on, he would sleep like a baby, much to my pleasure but my sleep will be interrupted with constant coughing, runny nose and blocked nose, which in turn affects his sleep.

At my last check up, I told my obgyn and she gave me this cough syrup. This cough syrup is effective and it works wonders! I took 10ml of it and within minutes, I would feel very drowsy and I could fall asleep very easily. My coughs during the night was also lessened but they came back with a vengeance during the day. Of course I did not take it during the day even though the instruction was to take twice daily. If I were, you will probably find me slumped on my desk.

the magic potion

Now the magic potion is finished and my cough and the works doesn't look like they're leaving me anytime soon. What should I do? Sometimes my chest or my lower abdomen became painful when I cough so bad.

Can I take the normal, over the counter cough syrup like Breacol and the like? With regards to our sleeping situation, I guess we will have to compromise and compromise some more. After all, that is what marriage is all about, no?

telenovela follower?

Before I started working, I took a short break. What better thing to do at home than watching and following a Filipino telenovela? I am not so much of an Indon telenovela fan so when TV3 started showing a Filipino telenovela titled Marimar, I thought that it would be interesting to follow. The thing about telenovela is, once you've started watching an episode, you'll be glued and hooked to follow the whole thing. I noticed that the difference between a Filipino telenovela and an Indon telenovela is that, Indon telenovelas tend to be very lengthy and dragging and in one episode, there's not so much progress whereby it's the total opposite of the Flipino telenovela (or at least the one that I watched). In one episode, a lot of things can happen, a lot of events took place and if you missed one episode, it's like you miss an entire week's progress.
At first my mum was not so keen of watching Marimar but when she saw me watch it, she liked it as well and now she's hooked to it (and she has the cheek to blame it on me LOL). When I wasn't working, I watched it almost every day and if I missed it, she'll watch for me and will tell me what I missed and vice versa. Now that I've started working, mum has been watching it for me and she will give me weekly updates and boy does Marimar has come a long way.
However, mum is in UK now and will be there for 2 weeks and the question now is, who's gonna watch Marimar? arrghhhh!! I tried to watch it on tv3.com.my but the show can only be watched on tonton.com.my. Everytime I tried to open tonton, it failed me. WTF. Internet connection at my house is fine and I opened it only at night but I still can't get through it is so frustrating. grrrr!! I searched on youtube and there are videos of it but with no english or malay subtitle. WTH I don't understand Tagalog. oh damn.
Any ideas where I can find the video? *sigh* If you've been a follower of a series and you are no longer able to watch it, you will definitely understand my frustration.

April updates

I'm too lazy to blog nowadays simply because:

• I've started work in a new firm. so far things are good but then again, it's a bit to early to tell, I guess.
  
• I've sort of moved out from my parents' house. We haven't really stayed in our house yet as there are a lot of things that we need for the new house but we're slowly but surely building our house, albeit a rented one. This will be our temporary house until we find a nicer and more suitable place which we can call our own. But of course we are gonna make it a home, no less.
• I went for my pre-natal check-up last Saturday and Alhamdulillah the baby is growing and developing well. I heard the baby's heartbeat for the very first time and I was thrilled! I still can't believe that I am carrying a little life inside me. I am now in my 15+ to 16 weeks of pregnancy and though I've crossed the 1st trimester, the 2nd trimester haven't been really easy for me (yet). I am still feeling nauseous, queasy and I still haven't really got back my appetite. Heck, I lost 3kgs in the 1st trimester itself thanks to vomiting almost everyday. *sigh* I sure hope that from now onwards, it will be a safe and smooth journey for me.
  

Ok that is all for now. Told ya I'm in no mood to write. Heck, in fact, I'm in no mood for anything at the moment. I am just putting a brave and straight face to face the world everyday.

little kitten

yesterday a terrible thing happened. my hubby accidentally ran over a kitten under the porch. the kitten apparently was under his tyre and when hubby reversed his car, i noticed the kitten sort of menggelupur and was very weak.

the thing is, the kitten has been around for quite some time now. she was always with her super garang mother who will stare and get angry at you whenever you come near her and her kitten. the kitten too, became super garang and super eksyen like her mom. *rugi sendiri lah kan, if not i would have surely feed them like they were mine* i can never get close to them, let alone touch or pet them. they would either get angry at you or run away when you come near them or when you call them. so there's no chance for me to feed them at all. as time goes by, the kitten grew but she is still relatively small so the mother cat kinda abandoned her and left her alone. i guess the mother was out again to look for a new partner. sheesh. this little kitten was still being her usual garang and eksyen self. ever since the mother left her, the little kitten was left to fend for herself, which i assumed she did not know how to. therefore, she just lie under the car or under the porch or near the vase and eventually she became weak and frail. i decided to feed her milk. of course she didn't come running to me when i gave her the milk. i left the milk and went away only to see her drinking it after i was nowhere in sight. see, still so eksyen, right? i also fed her some rice with ikan bilis, which she ate a bit. the rest were eaten by ants. she became weaker and weaker and yesterday as hubby was about to leave, none of us noticed that she was under the car. *sigh*. who would have thought that she would be sitting under the car, right? i only realized after hubby reversed his car but i think hubby did not completely ran over her. i guess (and i hope) only a minor part was ran over. i saw her menggelupur a bit and i frantically waved for hubby but he was running late. grrrr. he then took the kitten and put it near the vase. of course i can't leave the kitten there. i then checked on her and she was already dead. *sigh* so i buried her near our ciku tree in front of the house.

it was very sad indeed. but i guess it was her time to go. she was already very very weak anyway. now i regret for not really feeding and taking care of her and i felt really bad that she had to die in such a way. i pray that she rests in peace and i hope that hubby is forgiven. after all, it was an accident, right? it was not like he did it on purpose.

and i pray very hard that karma does not bite back now that i am carrying a child in me. *amin* i can't help thinking of the little kitten though...

full of hot air

I was excited upon learning that this year's hot air balloon festival will be held at Putrajaya from 17-20 March 2011 that I told hubby about it and he was excited as well. So on Saturday, we went to Putrajaya in the evening and when we arrived there at about 5ish, it was raining. Since it rained, no balloons on air were in sight. We were disappointed. Plus, we got stuck in traffic jam for nothing. Since it's unlikely that we'll get a parking spot, we ended up going to Alamanda instead. Wrong move. Alamanda was packed with people that we got so rimas and left Alamanda.

Since we were unable to catch a glimpse of any balloon on Saturday, we went to Putrajaya yet again on Sunday morning. We reached there at about 10am and managed to find a parking spot. The weather was so hot but we were determined to go on a balloon ride, only to find out that the public balloon ride is only open from 8am-11am and 6pm-9pm. BUMMER! We were sweating like pigs but we went for a walk anyway. The atmosphere was like a mega carnival with lots of activities, booths and food stalls. We were disappointed yet again. Lucky for us hubby's sister is staying in Kajang and she's having a birthday celebration for her daughter that afternoon so we went to her house and managed to catch forty winks.

At about 5pm, we left her house and went to Putrajaya. Again. Hubby insisted on taking me for a balloon ride. Weather was fine yesterday evening and when we reached Putrajaya, we can see a few balloons up in the air. Boy we sure got all excited. We spent a good 1/2 hour or so trying to find a parking and after we did, we went straight to the balloon area only to find out that the tickets were already sold out. Tough luck, huh? There were a few balloons for public rides and that was it. Like, really? Where the hell are the Darth Vader balloon, Doraemon balloon, Kitty Cat balloon and the Tree balloon? To be honest, I expect to see more balloons. At least if I did not get the chance to ride on one, I wanna see some beautiful balloons up in the air but nope. *yawn* It was very disappointing I kid you not. I was not keen to take any pictures at all (thus no pictures) but Hubby did take a few.

We were not up for any extreme activities like zorbing, rock climbing, paintball and the like so we went on the Putrajaya river cruise instead. A 20 minute cruise ride around the Putrajaya Lake. At least we did something. *sigh* I don't think I'll ever go to the fiesta again next year. What a waste of time and energy.

But one thing I notice is that 9 out of 10 people carry a huge camera, hung on their neck. Apparently, every body wants to be a photographer.

HMM: the review (of some sort)

the much talked about, highly anticipated and most awaited Malay film of the year, Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (HMM) has finally been released. I don't normally watch Malay movies in the cinemas for I feel that it's a waste of money. It's not that I don't support the local movie scene but some movies for example Kembar Siang (tengok trailer pun rasa benci, ok?), Senario chain of movies, Cuti-cuti Cinta, Ratu The Movie and the like just failed to grab my attention. However, there are a few movies that are exceptional like Puteri Gunung Ledang, Cinta, Cicak Man, and a few others that I don't mind paying to watch.

Since HMM has just been released, I thought that it's gonna be very difficult to get tickets, especially on a Saturday. The thing about watching movies is that, sometimes after you read the review(s) in the newspaper or online, you tend to get misled or influenced by the review, be it good or bad. There was a review on HMM in Saturday's The Star newspaper and after reading it, hubby and I thought that the movie is just so so. We have nothing to do on Saturday night so we decided to go out for a movie anyway. We left the house at almost 9pm and I suggested to go to Pavilion since it's near and in the event that there are no available tickets, at least we can hang around the area and have a leisurely walk at Bukit Bintang.

When we arrived, the queue was very long, no surprise there. It was, after all, Saturday night. We were contemplating on a few movies like World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles, HMM and Rango. At one point, hubby even suggested that we watch Mars Needs Moms. I say, we buy the dvd for that movie. But of course, HMM is on our top priority list. There was one show at 10.15pm and by the time we got to the counter, it was already 10.05pm. We thought nowhere in hell we're gonna get tickets and even if we do, it'll be the front row but luck was on our side as we managed to get seats in the middle row, row G. These must be the ones who reserved but failed to collect their tickets. So whaddaya know, good seats and a movie that's on top of our list.

So what do I think about HMM? The movie and the effort is commendable and I must say that the KRU brothers deserve some credit for producing such a movie. So the CGI bit may not make your eyes pop or go in awe with amazement (as I think some parts are blurry and some part do look unreal) but I think it is a great effort. Heck, it took them 2 years+ to complete the movie! As for the casts, it made me wonder, why Stephen Rahman-Hughes? Where are the real Malay actors? I guess none of our actors fit the criteria, huh? Not that Stephen Rahman-Hughes is not good (though his Malay sounds like a Mat Salleh!) but it would be nice to see a pure Malay actor to play the part. As for Ummi Nazeera, she's ok I guess but there's just something about her that makes it look like it's so hard for her to open her mouth. Remember back in school when our teachers used to ask us, "ada emas ke dalam mulut? tak boleh nak buka mulut ke?" I wish I could ask her that! hahaha.

Overall, to say the movie is great may be overrating it but I can safely say that it's good. Coming from young, local producers and director, this movie definitely deserves credit. I believe the KRU brothers can go really far and I wish to see more good and interesting (and worth watching and paying) Malay films. I say give them a chance and at least I am doing my bit by supporting the local movie industry, right? Don't listen to what others say, don't really believe what you read unless and until you have watched it yourself and be your own judge.

discounted dining

hubby & I are not picky when it comes to food. we love to eat and we eat everything. thank God for that, it makes life much more easier for me. ;) however, when it comes to dining out, we would have a hard time deciding on where to eat. if i ask him, "you nak makan apa?" 99% of his answer would be "I tak kisah. makan apa2 pun boleh. you?" other times, his reply would be "up to you." however, sometimes, when he has decided earlier that he wanted to eat something, he would say, "you nak makan lamb mandy/KFC/seafood kat SS2 kan? i tau!" and that's when i don't feel like eating whatever that he suggested. LOL.

I bet i am not the only one facing this dilemma. I bet you do too, be it with your partner, spouse or even family members. unless, of course someone or one of us has decided earlier what to eat. but then to be fair, we would always ask the other party(ies) what he/she/they want to eat, right?

anyway, since we were not picky eaters, we don't really have a favourite restaurant or eatery that we always frequent. we just go with the flow and eat what we feel like eating. but if the restaurant has a good offer or discount, of course we would go and check it out. who wouldn't wanna miss a good deal, right?

we've been to Tony Roma's a few times and the last time we went was in November 2010. we were not big fans of the ribs though. the good thing about TR is you hardly have to queue at TR as compared to Chilli's where you not only have to queue but wait for a good 15-20 minutes or so. anyway, during our visit to TR in November, on the receipt was written that there is an online survey. all you have to do is complete the survey and at the end of the survey, they will provide you with a 4 digit survey validation code which you have to write on your receipt. simply bring the receipt on your next visit to TR and you will get RM10 off your total receipt. it may be not much but RM10 off the receipt can be used for a nice cup of gelato ice-cream, no? or at least you can use it to pay for parking.

don't forget to write the validation code on the receipt and redeem it on your next visit.

recently we went to TR again and got our RM10 off. it's worth it!

Burlesque

The movie Burlesque may only be released tomorrow but I've watched it one week before its release, thanks to lil bro who got the screening tix from his workplace. *clap clap* the movie is awesome, even though there is nothing great about the storyline. it is rather typical. a small town girl trying to make it big in the show business, hit a few bumps but succeeded in the end. *yawn* yawn to the storyline but i promise you, the dance moves, the choreography, the songs are just awesome. it makes you wanna dance! and go green with envy at the show girls with great figure and great dance moves. *sigh* go watch it in the cinemas near you!

autopay machines-a bane or a boon?

they have been around for quite some time but to date, i still find them, well most of them a bane. most of the time they refuse to accept the notes, often times they are out of order and sometimes they are located at certain exits or floors only. try the ones at The Curve. yes, the parking is cheap but try leaving The Curve at night. you'll find most, if not all autopay machines are out of order that you have to pay upon exit (what's the purpose of having autopay machines then?). that's when the queue is the longest because everybody leave at the same time. buzz the intercom like mad and no one will answer.
at other places like KLCC, if you pay the parking, say RM5.50 with a RM10 note, you'll get a handful of coins in change. another thing that bugs me is that in some malls, the machines are located at certain exits or floors only. why can't they place the machines at every freaking exit on every freaking floor? you have to pay at one place and then collect your car at another. it is a nuisance. to me at least.

first for the year

this blog has been long abandoned. this is my first entry for the year 2011 and it's already the 2nd month of the year. since my last post about the shoe story, a lot has happened. 2010 ended nicely and 2011 started with a bang. January 2011 was definitely a month to remember, a month full of love, a month for celebration. i can safely say that January is my month. not only do i celebrate my birthday on January 12, but i was also united with my soul mate on 7 January 2011. alhamdulillah everything went well as planned. i can't believe that i am now a wife to someone.
2011 definitely started well and i look forward to greater things for the days to come. i hope i will blog more often and if i'm in the mood, i may share my wedding stories here.
i hope it's not too late to wish all my readers a very happy new year 2011 and to the Chinese, Gong Xi Fa Chai.