the-missus-blogs.com

6 months, 6 freaking months! That’s how long it takes to get ownership of a property in Malaysia these days.

 Anyway, now that episode is over, we officially got our keys to the apartment!

Whenever they say ‘handing over of keys’ I always imagine a little ceremony where the ex-owner passes the keys to the new owner as he cuts the red ribbon before proceeding to go into the new apartment.  The rest of us will clap happily and proceed to go in to sip some champagne while munching on finger food while ooooh-ing and aaah-ing at the new crib.

Alas, these kinds of things only happen in my head and not in reality.

In reality, all you have is an annoying wife forcing you to look at the camera as you open the door (and men as you know absolutely cannot multi-task, tsk)

And if you’re lucky, the rest will be looking over cheering you on, grinning from one end to the other for no apparent reason.

And if you’re Indian, it takes two people to open a door ….

And 3 male cousins to help you move your shit, even if you just live next door!

Everyone was pre-warned earlier itself of the apartment’s nasty condition to avoid any heart attack. The whole place literally needs to be knocked off before it can be even called a decent home. But then again, if you’re paying below market price, at least about RM40k cheaper, these are the litte things you’ll have to put up with!

The previous owner took no liberty whatsoever to renovate the place since she bought it in 1995.  Thus we have this present condition to put up with.  JOY!

So come, let me give you a little tour of our shitty-ugly-duckling-soon-to-be-awesome pad.

Here’s the kitchen – soon-to-be a place where I’ll be cooking away my baby’s solids. I’ve not cooked in 4 bloody months!

Note the broken tiles, charming isn’t it? Gives the place an antique feel

The living room:

Cracks on the wall…..

Balcony obviously.

It wasn’t me!

The rooms:

More cracks….just great!

Now for the ugly rusty old toilets

I could puke right about now.

Banglas hard at work moving boxes :p Goodbye old rented apartment, it was never really a home for certain reasons

I couldn’t help much given my ‘disc degeneration’ problem hence I was promoted to supervisor

Roshan just dicking around, as usual.

UP.

DOWN. Ok now get to work!

After all that hard work (no pun intended, lol) , the husband tooks us all out for lunch. On him. There’s got to be some incentive and reward after a good job done, no? Supervisor included

So there, a tour of OUR first new home. If you went ewww what a shit-hole. I dont freaking blame you. I would gladly double your ewww. But I would like to think of the apartment as an ugly duckling right now, just waiting and itching to be converted into a beautiful swan.  Reminds me of how I looked like back then but that’s a different story altogether. It does deserve a second chance, really.

Quotation for renovation takes place tomorrow, pray that we won’t have to resort to a second job! Or worse, a third one.

P.s: Thanks guys for the helping us out. You guys are awesome and mmmm, probably will need your help later on too!

There’s this saying that goes, third time’s the charm.

Introducing Amy’s Heritage Nyonya Cuisine in Malacca – probably the BEST Nyonya food  in Malaysia (it’s going to remain the best until I find something better :p).

We have actually been to this restaurant three times but only managed to dine here on our third visit.

The first time we made a detour to Malacca on the way to JB, Amy’s restaurant was booked by some Bank in KL for a private function. Amy, the friendly owner and yes the person who does all the cooking was very  apologetic about it. Naturally we told her we’ll be back. And we didn’t lie, as we headed there for the second time during the husband’s business trip. Unfortunately we were told by her husband (and I”m assuming it’s her husband) that the place was PACKED with most of the dishes sold out.

Blasphemy! What’s a girl gotta do to dine here?!

Anyway, the third time around, we were extremely careful, lol. The husband called to make reservations for Sunday lunch before we headed back to KL.

We got in a bit late and suprise suprise, Amy’s husband straight away recognized my husband from the previous trip we made!! Good PR and memory or just creepy? I don’t wanna know!

Most of the dishes were already sold out so we had to settle for these. Waiting time was more than 40 minutes as Amy cooks them herself personally and with so much love, it is quite understandable.

The one thing I love about family-run restaurants is their friendiness. Passion is also the other factor. As he talked lovingly about his wife’s passion for cooking and how she was invited to UN in New York two years in a row to teach them how to cook Nyonya food, we were literally salivating while waiting for our food. Of course at the same time we muttered ‘the food better be good or else this Uncle’s gonna get it…..’ LOL

Expectations were indeed HIGH.

Happy to report that expectations were indeed satisfied!!

My favorite from the lot: Masak lemak veg. This was awesomely good and very addictive. You could literally have it like soup!

Sambal udang with Petai – Suraj’s favorite

Ayam keluak – everyone’s favorite!

Cincaluk omelette, mmmmm, egg!

Fried Rice

One very handsome waiter serving us rice

Dig in dig in….

Everyone was literally HAPPY with the food and couldn’t believe how someone can cook this well :D I really should sign up for some cooking lessons with her! 

Can’t remember how much we paid but it was definitely VERY cheap.

Testament to GREAT food – empty plates AND…..

A photo of the hubby licking his lips while digging into god knows what since the plates were already empty!

Will definitely go back for more to try out their other signature dishes provided it’s available.

And this restaurant will also hold sweet memories for my cousin who saw  the love of his life……..check out the expression! I’m so tempted to post up her photo but I won’t

*stalker mode* LOL

Now what’s a good lunch without dessert? Yea, not a good one.

I read somewhere that the best possible dessert you could have in Malacca is the mille crepe in Nadeje’s!

Mmmm different flavors of crepe.

Will you just look at that!

Making this cake is no easy task. It is made layer by layer – one layer of crepe, one layer of cream, flavoring and it repeats the process until a cake is formed.  Personally I would rather stick a fork in my eye than to do this myself, or better still just buy a damn slice.

Cake was good. But I heard that it was even better before one half of the owner decided to quit and go on his own way after some issues. But guess what? The said guy is finally offering crepe cakes in KL and damn I’m going to try it soon to see what’s the fuss about.

To visit these places:

Amy’s Heritage Nyonya Cuisine: 75, Jalan Melaka Raya 24, Taman Melaka Raya.

Call 06-286 8819 for reservations unless you also think third time’s the charm.

For mille crepe desserts:

Nadeje’s Mille Crepe

G-23 & 25, Jln PM4, Plaza Mahkota, 75000 Melaka

So my husband turned thirty three yesterday. Saying that does make me feel a WHOLE lot younger as I’m barely in that age group, ahem

Big kiss for Baby Sairah when he got home

For weeks, I was cracking my precious head on what to get that man. And God knows how I’ve bugged my Baby Sis and Bestie Wylane into giving me their opinions. From a shopping spree to a watch, to a spa session……I just couldn’t come up with the perfect gift for him as most of it have been already done with previously. Shopping for a man IS tough! But of course there’s no denying that it would have been MUCH easier if you’re swimming in cash!

Naturally……….I left his gift to the VERY last minute coz hey that’s how most awesome gift ideas are conceived Usually.

I applied for half day off and did some running around Mid Valley to get everything sorted. Couldn’t help but squeeze in a quick pedicure for my toes which were looking very banshee-like before the treatment okie.  Got it done in JJ Nails and damn I want to open a nail parlour one day. Place was packed!

Red was the color of choice in view of CNY just around the corner.

Anyhos, the hubster got home around 6ish and we proceeded to cut his cake. Poor thing actually called me much earlier just to give me the heads up that he had cancelled all his night meetings so if I want to take him out to dinner I could, LOL, no shame! I was actually opting for something more quiet this time around.

Got it from Zen (Thanks Wylane for recommending!), it was only RM55 – perfect cake for a small family.

Baby Sairah looks very happy here, probably thought it was her birthday, lol

Of course Baby Sairah gets the first itty bitty piece, then only the wife

Family photo!

Ok we’ll just leave half of daddy’s old face off coz there’s just way too many photos of him :p

My precious lil baby. Poor thing has been shedding alot of hair lately.

Then came the best part of all: The gifts!

First a card from the both of us….

Actually the most handsome man I know is John Abraham, but what the heck, must be nice to him at least once a year innit.

Priceless expression. Wanna know what I got him? Scroll down will ya….

TADA!

He was really excited about it coz he has seen them in action many times on the way back from work! And the guy was kind enough to offer me the voucher before I even made payments just so I could suprise my husband (I’m assuming he is Alexandar and Phillipa Yoong’s brother coz they share the same surname). Awesome service, really! Was SO close on getting him drifting classes (since he loves cars!), but safety issue was a major concern now that we have a baby

Daddy enquiring who dipped his baby’s feet in lipstick just to get Sairah’s foot print.

For the record, it was Baby Sister’s idea although it was Sairah’s mommy who carried the task out! My baby has really ticklish feet, just like her father.

Next up, the other gift.

Yay for his favorite perfume!

After opening the pressies, we got to eat yummy food cooked by mom, thanks mommie! Always can count on my family

5 years and counting…..

Nah the face of someone who was so exhausted at the end of it. Walking around Mid Valley lugging bags of items isn’t fun as it used to be. I hate it.  Maybe I just hate shopping alone coz there’s no one to carry my bags. Heck I even dropped some stuff but luckily a kind lady helped me out.

Ok now that his birthday is done and over with………I’m going to spend the next few months planning my precious baby’s 1st Birthday. Ain’t going to leave this one to the last minute for sure!

My crappy old phone was giving me some problems, constantly shutting itself down whenever I needed to use it the most. I was contemplating getting a new phone but couldn’t make up my mind on which one to get. So I did some research online and finally decided on one. Ah the life of an online shopaholic –  deciding on phones without testing them physically, haha, what is this world coming to thesedays?!

Anyway I commissioned my dad to find out the bestest best price available, only coz he’s friends with almost everyone in this world AND can get the bestest best deal around. I kid you not. He’s our go-to-man in the house!

I came back from work rather tired last week only to be greeted by a husband who was eager to go to PJ to buy some ‘tiles’ for our new apartment. Naturally I was a bit annoyed by his sudden plans coz I totally hate going out on weekdays thesedays! Besides, who’s going to look after the baby I asked him.

Sensing my annoyance, he had no choice but to let the cat out of the bag by saying that he had already told my dad to get the guy to reserve the phone I wanted and we were actually going there to pick it up. We were also suppose to do dinner that weekend followed by him giving me the gift. Since I was pretty close to getting it myself, the plans were somewhat altered. But seriously, this still deserves an awww moment

Off we went and I’m finally the new owner of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro in Black

Love this baby to bits! I’ve actually tried the Iphone and Blackberry and didn’t like it (besides everyone has one of those thesedays and it’s expensive to maintain each month, hmpf) so I LOVE the fact that this baby is a touch screen and type phone – having the best of both worlds It also comes with HD video and a pretty decent camera which was my requirement so I can take Sairah’s photos on the go (can’t be scrambling to look for the damn camera everytime) and upload them onto Facebook. Been doing that often for the past few days, god knows how many people are getting annoyed with that, haha.

Sairah’s FIRST trip to the mall, oh how she loved it! And she had alot of attention too, ahem.

Oh mommy I love going out. Yup, a mall rat she is.

Clearly a morning person – unlike her parents!

As you can see, picture quality isn’t too shabby. Plus uploading it to FB is a breeze.

I could just go on and on about this phone, but best you read here to convince yourself what a decent phone this baby is that’s amazingly priced too!

Oh and thank you hubby for the wonderful gift although it’s your birthday that’s coming up soon and not mine. Now I feel pressured to get him a nice gift!:D

I’ve made several trips to SDMC last week. Three times to be exact. One of which was for my baby’s monthly checkup where she received multiple jabs.

On the way to the hospital, clearly not knowing what awaits her poor thighs.

Needless to say, she developed high fever the next day and wasn’t her usual self on Saturday

The previous two trips were reserved for me. I have been diagnosed with Disc Degeneration. I know, sounds deadly awful.

DD refers to a syndrome in which a compromised disc causes low back pain. Despite its rather dramatic label, degenerative disc disease is fairly common, and it is estimated that at least 30% of people aged 30-50 years old (WHAT? I’m barely 30 ok) will have some degree of disc space degeneration, although not all will have pain or ever receive a formal diagnosis. Most patients with degenerative disc disease will experience low-grade continuous but tolerable pain that will occasionally flare (intensify) for a few days or more (Wrong, how about we try a week??!)

I had the first encounter when I was about 7 months pregnant. I was brushing my teeth, bending down to gargle my mouth and the minute I stood up, I had this SHARP intense pain on my lower back. I swear I heard a snap sound as well. My entire body shifted to the right, in short my body was freakishly crooked! And it’s like that every time I get this! The pain was so immense that I had to take pain killers several times a day for a whole week. Still have no idea how I survived the Fraser’s Hill trip (please do applaud me). I couldn’t even bend down to put on my pants,  so of course the hubby was commissioned this special position, didn’t get no complains from him for sure, haha.

Then after giving birth, I had a recurrent case probably on my second month. That wasn’t as painful as the first episode, but still, it was difficult to carry the baby and walk around for long periods of time. Even sitting down and lying on the bed caused discomfort.

And then came the third episode last Saturday which prompted my dad to insist I visit an orthopedic. I wish I could tell you the story of my orthopedic (as he’s a pervy character of its own) but I’ll just leave it at that.

Upon the first consultation, I was suggested to do an MRI, a standard procedure apparently. Of course with such ’standard procedure’ comes a great price tag. All of RM1.2k, which luckily is covered by the husband’s company otherwise I can’t imagine wasting money over a creepy MRI. It gets a bit scary. It is scary! I can’t imagine how someone who’s claustrophobic would  survive it. Oh hell no, they wouldn’t.

The said RM1.2k MRI. (Photo courtesty of google)

Being in an MRI is like being in a techno ‘feng tau’ club, except you’re freaking sober with limited confined space. The sound alone can really scare you off but since I do enjoy techno music, it was quite soothing. But really – they could have made the space a whole lot bigger. It really reminded me of our trip to Cu-chi Tunnel. The technician was kind enough to let the hubby stay on for a good 10 minutes until I ‘settle’ down. The whole process took about 30 minutes! 30 freaking minutes in a confined scary space. I want that 30 minutes back.

Anyho, got the report back after an hour, and the lower disc were black on the scan, which reflects the problem area as it should be white in color (due to water surrounding it).

So yea the cause of my freaking problem – lack of water/fluid in the disc area. According to the report, my condition looks BAD but since I lack other symptoms (eg: shooting pain in the leg), the doc thinks this isn’t so serious, yet, so long I start on some McKenzie exercises and swim. So yes, that I must do soon.

Soon.

Is this treatable? Hell yea. I have my back plasters and painkillers. It’s not like I’m going to die anytime soon. I hope not. No, I don’t think anyone has ever died coz of disc degeneration. Maybe just awarded with a few days MC off work to recover from the pain, which when you come to think about it, isn’t too bad

Sheesh, now I feel OLD. The story of my life.