Taking A Seat Back

Sometimes, one has to take a seat back and start evaluating one's career development progress. Okay, so this post is precipitated by the fact that it is the Parent Company's financial year end and the possibility that all its employees are in receipt of some much needed VitB.

Anyhow, this is the seventh month running that yours truly has been doing pure corporate secretarial work. Prior to the merger, I was doing joint corporate secretarial and legal work. With the merger, we had new people coming in to do corporate secretarial work, and thus, I was relieved of my duties in that area, leaving me free to fully concentrate on my legal portfolio. Then came the sabatical period where I took a lovely 1 years' leave of absence to go gallivanting joyfully in the land of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Upon my return, I was to continue my legal seat within the Company. However, the Almighty had better plans for me and after a short 3 weeks of wrangling and pulling strings, the heavily pregnant moi at that point of time managed to secure a much deserved promotion. However, the caveat therein was that this Madame had to deal with a 100% corporate secretarial portfolio.

Now, don't get me wrong. I enjoy doing corporate secretarial work. However, there is a tendency for the jobscope to get a wee bit dry and monotonous. In a way, I quite miss my legal portfolios. Therein lies a substantial chunk of the division's operations work. I did try and ask Boss whether it was possible for me to play a dual role within the company, but alas, the division is way too big for me to be able to wear both hats. So, I have to be content to play an advisory role whenever any of the legal eagles come up to me for reference.

Sigh.

In any event, I am bonded (in blood) to my present post. Personally, I am giving myself a year and a half to absorb the necessary corporate secretarial knowledge and then rethink my present position. In the meantime, I will pursuade Boss and my CFO to allow me to attend several legal training so as to allow me to be kept abreast with the legal development within the division. Oh, and continue being a spoke in the legal eagles' wheel, heh heh. Don't mind me guys!

Stay At Home Mommy I so am not!

In Memoriam

To the late Dr. Foo Ong Pin,

The first time we met, I was very much taken by the tall, silver haired smiley doctor you were, whilst updating me on the newborn Inky’s progress at the side of the ward bed in Suite 635, SJMC. However, we never had a chance to say goodbye to each other properly. The family and I momentarily left the country, thinking we would meet each other again. In fact, during Inky’s last appointment with you on the 12th December 2007, we promised each other that we would meet up again, hopefully with another kid in tow. You were the kind of Dr who would remember every single thing about your patients. You even remembered small insignificant facts about me and my work. Imagine my disappointment and sorrow when I found out about your demise on my labour bed, waiting for Impy to emerge. To my great disappointment, I never whipped out my digicam to record a memory of you with Inky during her numerous appointments.

Today, whilst browsing through the pages of the Star Newspaper, I came upon your obituary. In a way, this has provided me with closure. Thank you, Dr, for being the best paedatrician I’ve ever known, for bearing with my 1001 queries which I bugged you with every appointment day. Your quote on the obituary was definitely something that was uniquely yours.

“It is sufficient that those who had known me will remember me occasionally, hopefully with fondness.”

Dr. Foo Ong Pin, I remember you more than occasionally and definitely with fondness. Thank you for all that you have done for your patients and Rest In Peace.
We definitely miss you, loads.

ps - I was tearing up in drafting this during the darkness that was the afternoon blackout.

iTempted

By a whole lot of stuff...

1. In light of this stagnant weight loss, iTempted by a treadmill (and not threadmill, as I bloghop to other blogs. Its TREADMILL not Threadmill people. A threadmill is a small mill which produces threads, like the ones that use to stand in Yorkshire. A TREADMILL is something you tread upon day after day hoping to shift those stubborn pounds. Sekian, our English lesson of the day). Anyway. there's a space in the topmost study which is screaming Space For Treadmill. Hmm.. if my (pro rated) vitB comes in, I might put some downpayment for one (and wait for hubby to explode saying there is no space in the house. Heh? No space? You must be joking....)

2. In light of convenience and convenience. iTempted by Mum's portable fan broiler cum oven. I loike... it doesn't take up space. It looks chic and smart. It's quick. It's portable. Unfortunately, it will eat up precious dough that I need for other stuff.

3. In view of the crappy so called sales offered by local outlets, iTempted to go back to UK just to shop. Nuts, I know, but I turn green everytime I compare the MarcusEtSpartacus sale in KL compared to the one in UK. Hmm... RM119 on sale top here to a £5 on sale top there. No competition people. Oh, and let's not forget I need pots of spending money as well.

4. In view of the ohmigod-I-look-so-effing-terrible photos of myself I saw in Zets FB from Fenot's bro's wedding, iTempted by a luxurious spa session that wll last the whole day. Oh, my eye bags.... that pasty complexion...I even have effin wrinkles. Please, can someone gift me with a massage session followed by a thorough facial spa session?

5. Also, in view of those horrible effin eye bags as stated above, iTempted by LaMer eye cream. Yeah, but dream on IzreenFara. You ain't got even a fifth of the means to splurge on that small bottle of cream which costs a bomb.

6. In view the the now-super-duper-locked-and-can't-even-find-a-way-to-get-through-it Company lappie, iTempted by a super duper comel-icious portable lappie. Hubby's lappie is like a dinosaur to cart around the house.

Oh, dear.. my wants resemble a rich woman's wishlist - something I am obviously not, of course. So, for now, I guess I shall continue dreaming....

I'm In The Mood For Cooking

Which is really detrimental to the waist. So far, I have found myself bringing in brekkie for the office at least once a week. Not only that, I find myself browsing for items in the supermarket aisles for the just-in-case-I-feel-like-cooking-whatever-it-is-I-feel-like. Dangerous, huh?

Nonetheless, my aim is to whip up at least one fancy dish a week.

Anyway, people ask me how I find the time to whip up them concoctions. I have two secrets. No.1 - my maid. I cook, she cleans. No matter what. I abhor washing up. But don't get me wrong. I do my best to keep the kitchen looking as spick and span as it could ever be, using the least amount of pots and pans and keeping my food prep as efficient as possible.

No. 2 is this.
I love my mini food chopper! It cuts my food prep time down to next to nothing. I use it for my onions, carrots, celery, meats, basically everything! This was bought during my stint in UK and it is worth every single penny I spent on it.

So folks. Stay tuned to my foodie blog which will, insyallah, constantly be updated from time to time, thanks to my two non-secrets. Ha ha.

At the risk of scaring off prospective people who are coming in to interview for the position of my executive in the Company, this is going to be an angin rant.

1. Why oh why can't some people have the courtesy of respecting a person's privacy? I was pumping in the pantry when in comes this sour milk faced girl from the agri-business to conduct her product testing. For one, I don't mind one or two ladies coming in to make their drinks, but bloody hell don't go inviting the whole building occupants laa. Totally oblivious to my privacy needs, she goes and calls up her tester population in. Bloody fish! What the hell then is the small dining cum testing area in their department used for?

2. I have been keeping my eye on the clock every morning and post lunch. I don't mind someone coming in 10 minutes late, but when it is more than half an hour and almost every day without informing the reporting boss and I get absolutely nothing on my table day after day... this is getting a bit too much. If I can come from Ampang into Subang and be half an hour early, why can't she do the same, having to come in from Puchong? And excuse akak kena berak does not jive with me, ok?

3. I hope my exec is willing to learn. I am willing to teach. And please, English must be at least passable. None of that MyEnglandVeryGoodOne.

Sekian terima kasih.

And how was your weekend?

We all had a blast. As I earlier blogged, Friday night was spent sinking our teeth into deliciously tender, fall off the bone ribs to celebrate Mumsie and Bro’s birthday. Yummy, and very satisfying indeed. We heart TonyRomas, especially since they provide restless kiddies with crayons and scribbling table mats to keep them occupied whilst the adults can satisfy their cravings. Anyway, here are some pix, courtesy of Sis (heh heh, knicked them off FB of course).







The blazing hot Saturday afternoon was spent catching up with the BBGals at Fenot’s brother’s wedding. It has been quite a while since I caught up with the gals. As some had come and left early, us gals who purposely came later than the rest got treated as family and managed to fill our tummies with the lauk pengantin. Oh, heavenly was the company and the treat. True to form, we also conquered the latter end of the wedding celebration as it coincided with Fenot’s own 22nd (??) birthday as well. Woopsie. I wonder when Zetster will upload the pix from Susan? My pix were not that nice...

To tail off the fun weekend, we had a Fathers’ Day celebration at SeriPacific hotel. Another gorgefest it was.. succulent oysters, tender roast beef with the works. The theme was Western, and no, we didn’t dress up. And, I bumped into Nutz as well! Imagine that. Anyway, let the pix do the talking.







Mana tak muka booooooolaaaaaaaaaat macam Impy? With two meetings the following day, there goes any harapan of any meltdown. However, thanks to boobyfeeding the mini booolat, the weight has gotten stagnant. Okaylah tu.. lets hope I can fast during Ramadhan without sacrificing milk production eh?

Right, back to websurfing. I miss doing this at work, but heck, I am more productive nowadays.. even if Ursula (formerly known as theComplainer) isn’t – God in Himmel only knows what that woman is up to. Whatever it is, lets hope my exec (who hopefully doesn’t go by the email *insert name*_best @ blabla.com or *insert nama manja*_cute@blabla.com or a few other select ones with the England agak-agak fail lah jugak) will come in soon to relieve my burden. I miss barking at people, folks but don’t let this scare you... appearances are quite deceiving. I am a tame pussycat, moi!
Toodles!

ps - just got good news across the world. Congrats babe! Rezqi yang definitely coming your way. Take care... miss ya loads!

Bliss ... Outside Office Hours

Nothing beats waking up at 5 am in the morning, bonding with one's baby baby whilst the elder sister is zonked away on her own bed.

Aaaaah... bliss. Impy has gotten to the stage where he is oh, so generous with his smiles. Baby bulat (translated: round roly poly baby) can now coo back when you coo at hime. Comel-icious. At 6.2 kgs during the last checkup, he definitely is one hefty, healthy baby.

This Mommy has been pretty busy with work and had to leave Impy to the maid for quite a bit more than what she would've wanted. For starters, there was an issue where we weren't quite sure whether Kakak Inky was plain jealous of her baby brother, throwing tantrums to seek attention or whether we had, errr.... spooks (for lack of a better description) in the Home, having left it vacant throughout my confinement period. To be on the safe side, we decided to pay more attention to Kakak Inky - at Impy's expense - and organised an impromptu, last minute bacaan Yassin at the Home, also somewhat of a be-earliered house warming for some. Thanks to Mom for organising the food spread (yums!), Dad for getting my Ustaz jurunikah to the Home, the Inlaws for the tabur-tabur thingy and my cousins with BudakKecik for attending. Yeay!

Anyway, enough about that. Suffice to say, Kakak Inky is back to her own sweet self. In fact, we have started sending her to kindie. We finally found one that accepts a non-toilet trained toddler (alhamdulillah). Despite the fact she is only 2 plus, Inky loves reading, knows her ABCs, can count all the way up to 20, is learning her alif ba tas. In fact, she loves studying (something she obviously inherited from her Daddy) so much so the principle has started teaching her together with the 4 pluses. Her day at kindie begins at 8 where her Daddy sends her there. She has her classes, then it is tea break around 10, classes again, then lunch at 12.00. After lunch is nap time for the kiddies until 4, where the caretaker then bathes her and she gets sent home. I must post a pix of Inky in her uniform - she so enjoys wearing it. On Wednesday mornings, the kiddies go for an excursion, then on Fridays, it is Iqra' day.

As for Impy, he was the reason why we have had to send Kakak Inky to kindie as he was getting to be quite a handful. He insists to be cuddled almost all the time. So, the poor maid has to devote her time to entertaining him. I have, in fact, told her not to worry so much about house cleaning, and as for cooking, I actually rush home after work and produce nutricious, home cooked meals for the family. So there you go. Home Management 101. Oh, and during the day, the Parents and InLaws actually drop by to visit the kiddies and check on the maid.

Last night, we celebrated Mumsie and Bro's birthdays. As something different (and Dad's treat for the night), we went to TonyRomas - to be honest, I was salivating for the ribs after having seen the promotional 13" platter of 10 lip smacking, yummily tender all off the bone ribs. Anyway, we had a blast that night. The table was heaving with our starters of ceasar salad with grilled salmon on top, a huge onion loaf and deep fried mushrooms. For mains, we had that huge platter of ribs, prawn and scampi fettucinni, fish and chips and a burger plate as well. Oooof.. we were stuffed that night. By way of desert and the birthday celebration, I got an adorable American choc cake from the local bakery. All that fed a table of 7 1/2, with CousinLana & Co joining us for our afters. Apologies, no piccies yet as my digicam ran out of juice and Sis and CousinLana took all the photos with their DslRs.

Am looking forward to today, where I will be traipsing solo back to the Ampang area to meet up with my BBGals at a wedding. Wooot. The digicam is being recharged as I type this. Haven't had some me time for quite some time, so am grabbing this opportunity with every limb available. In between, I have to cook for the day and then go shopping in preparation for a management meeting this coming Monday. Yes, it might be the weekend, but this Madame still has to put on her working cap. I like my meeting prep to run as smoothly as possible. Speaking of which, I do hope that should Boss choose a male exec for me, that male exec should have a female touch as the job scope includes food prep as well as entertaining the management as well. Hahaha.. could that be possible?

Fathers' Day this Sunday and we are celebrating it at SeriPacific (again!). Makan lagi... oh well. It's all for milk production (so I tell myself, as an attempt to justify all the gorgefests that I have partaken).

Right, gotta run. Am allocating this morning for home tidying up and I have all 2 1/2 floors to attack. Tara!

Going Under

Slowly and surely.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I am getting on track with my workload, no worries. Getting reacquainted with my beloved (not!) files and personnel within the division.

Tapi...............

Ohmigod...... Please can someone pray for my executive whoeverthatmaybe to get his/her butt into my office pronto and can that someone please get her act together as I really am vomitting blood here? There is no way I can do my workload and endlessly check the work of someone who is supposedly more than competent enough to do such work.

And therein lies the reason as to why this Madame hasn't been blogging for quite sometime - that, and the fact that the bloody company has blocked all the fun sites, which really is almost all the sites on the web.

Additional stress la ni....

Dah, sekian