Personalized Yassin

Been thinking to give away yassin as door gift for kenduri aqiqah. My intention is to regard this as sedekah and hoping the pahala will multiple when people read the yassin.

100 pcs in a box

Design of booklet

The insides with translation. Like it.

During mid October I found this website Creatively Designed where 1 yassin costs RM3 each. The products seem gorgeous on the website but quite out of my budget (unless I want to order mininum quantity of 50). To satisfy my want, I was planning to order only 50 pcs to suit my budget but procrastinate in placing the order. I also nearly scrapped my plan until one day on 1st Nov I saw the company was advertising a 1/2 price sale on the personalized yassin. I jumped from my seat because i was so thrilled! I can order more quantity with the same price! So I quickly made some phone calls and browsing to choose a design for the booklet. I had to pay extra RM50 due to rush order and I don't mind. So I paid RM200 for 100 pcs of personalized yassin. Although the yassin on sale is only in black and white, I was very satisfied and love the design. And i think it looks better in BW than in colour. Alhamdulillah, tercapai juga hasrat ini....

End of maternity leave

I don't wanna go to work! Next week I'll be back in the office after my 60 day maternity leave...Boringgg!
I've been baking these few days i.e doing things that I might not do once I'm back to work. I've gained better confidence in baking cakes. The ingredients are more a less the same except  additional 2 or 3. I did mostly chocolate cake because it uses less eggs and butter. I do want to bake other cake e.g. buttercake or sponge cakebut I haven't found recipes that use minimal eggs and butter. I've tried 3 different recipes for chocolate cake, brownies, chocolate ganache, buttercream for decorating and today tried to make swans out of choux pastry.
 I'm planning to bake a chocolate cake for the kids birthday party on the 9th of December thus the enthusiasm.
You won't have the time for thoughts once you're stuck deep in your job so I used the long break that I have to muhasabah, plan things and enjoy my life at home.

Holiday at Sungkai

On the 29th October, we had a weekend trip to Felda Hot Spring, Sungkai in Perak. It was the first 'Family Day' arranged by neighbours of Lorong 3/14. I was on my 40th day of confinement so the trip was 'legal' for me. It was a first holiday outing for Lutfi so i was quite anxious actually. Alhamdulillah, he behaved well, slept through the night except he couldn't stand the aircond thus had blocked nose. Oh yeah! It was the first outing with Abah's new Estima too...

Lutfi on the way to Sungkai.

The reception of Sungkai Felda Residence.

Creative eh. Umbrella turned into eye catching lamp shade

Among the activities.

The trip was enjoyable. Since i couldn't join any physical activities, I went to book a session with the spa. I paid RM140 for a Traditional Massage + Body Scrub. The spa is well decorated, I give 7/10. The service, mmmm... could be improved. The staff possibly is not  professionally trained thus I give 5/10. They have 2 huts and each hut has 2 rooms. 1 hut for the ladies and the other is for men. Value for money? Possibly...

The massage area. Nice

The other side of the room

Entrance to the massage room

The hut that has 2 massage rooms

Lush greenery

The entrance to the spa

I was quite good on controlling what I ate except for breakfast on Sunday. I actually filled with 2 wholemeal bread with peanut butter & strawberry jam. But I sat there too long waiting for kakak and my husband to finish theirs thus I was helping myself with other stuff too (such as mee rebus & telur goreng mata kerbau!). I still resisted the oily stuff though such as nasi lemak and fried kuey teow.

What I had initially. Looks healthy isn't it

My hubby's

View from where we sat during breakfast

The room is spacious. I think because their target group is families. That's a plus point for us since we are now parents with 4 kids and a bibik.

Our room is 222, on the 1st floor

Could you see Lutfi on the bed?

Lutfi, geared for the holiday

Made him wear this before he outgrows it

Our room connected to Bibik's room

(No pictures at the Hot Spring because i was busy looking after Lutfi)
All in all, it was an outing long waited for since i was pregnant. Looking forward to plan for 2012 now!....

On the way to our Sunday lunch

 

Having problem to go through the small 'titi'.

The convoy

Chocolate all the way

I baked chocolate cake twice and tried a brownies recipe (baked on different days)during my confinement. All ingredients were available so I thought why not. I tried Jamie Oliver's recipe and it turned out ok although a bit burned and overbaked. My oven gets really hot and i can't use the heat and time length as per instruction. I have to try and error to understand my oven....

Jamie O's recipe. Fresh from the oven

After drizzling the chocolate sauce

 I'm always amazed by people who manage to take pictures of  what they have done especially with the before and after. It is fulfilling to see the fruits of your labour. Hope I will remember next time....

New TARGETS

Target after maternity leave_Nov 2011
Today 2.11.2011 I weigh 76.6kg. I target to weigh 73kg on 21.11.2011 that is 3.6kg in 12 days (after deducting weekends). I need to maintain losing 0.3kg for 12 days

Target for IDEAL WEIGHT
My ideal weight is 60kg. If i constantly lose 2kg per month, this can be achieved by May 2012 starting from December 2011

I need to beat 2010 posts!

I thought I could catch up updating my blog during maternity leave. I need to beat 42 posts of 2010! I have 16 posts including this thus 26 more to go! (this post is intentionally written to increase the 2011 counts with no actual story to tell :-p

Day 44 already?

Today is supposed to be a merdeka day for me. I remember during early confinement, I couldn't wait for the period to be over. But once the 44th day is here, I sighed. Thoughts on coming back to work disturbs me.

I've been very good during confinement. I was rather focused and followed the pantang to the T (except for 2 or 3 weekends). I weighed myself everyday to record any weight loss (my record include weight of bengkung around 0.5kg). I started recording on Day 21 of 77.8kg. My lowest was 75.7kg on Day 32 which is near to my pre pregnancy weight. However, due to breaking the rule (eating stuff other than nasi, fried food, sweet treats), I've gained and today I'm 77.6kg. If I had maintained the pantang, I could weigh 74-73kg by now. It took 3 weeks to lose 2kg and just a weekend to gain it back! Damn.... I noticed the weight gained when I didn't drink enough. This weekend is Hari Raya Haji, another challenge for me to overcome.

Up to today, I still wear bengkung. This bengkung is the most comfortable. I've tried the 'Lilit' and 'Tali kasut'. This comfortable bengkung similar to 'Lilit' but the difference is in the material of cloth used. This one is imported from Indonesia. I even thought of continue wearing it when I'm back at work.

Up to today, I have 18 days before I come back to work. I want to focus on my work after this thus I shall use the available time now to plan activities/holidays, plan my diet and healthy routine, spend time with kids, update my blog, savour quality time with baby Lutfi and a lot of other things which if I don't do the thinking now, I would waste the time that I have now.