Last Week(s) of 2014 in Recap: At Home, Outside, N Office



Hello and happy New Year 2015, Friends!

It's been more than a month since the last time I blogged, and so many things had happened! I hope you have had a wonderful holiday. I've missed writing this weekly journal and I am so happy to begin again.

So here's what have been going on for the last weeks of 2014.

At home

Rainy season has begun here in Indonesia. Evenings are often cold and wet, so we often just stay at home playing with Michael, reading stories to him, building blocks and playing hide and seek. We are not the kind of parents who let our child play with gadget too much, but we do allow him to watch children's songs on YouTube from time to time. We also teach him to draw with coloring pencil. By now, Michael has learnt that he is only allowed to draw or "write" on notebooks, not on Mommy and Daddy's sheets and sofas and walls, especially when he was using Mommy's permanent marker! Yup, there were many "drawings" with pen that won't wash off on our furniture, but we didn't make a big deal out of it. Michael was learning, and he learned fast what he should do and what he should not.



Michael takes his bath time in a standing shower, not in the bath tub. He usually sits down on a piece of plastic when I bath him, because I don't want him sitting on the bathroom floor. One day, during lunch hour, I went to Daiso - sort of Japanese Dollar Store - and found this super cute, tiny chair in happy blue color. It is made of plastic, quite sturdy, and best of all, it has some sort of anti-slip rubber under all its four legs, so the chair doesn't move easily. It's just a bit tiny, I wish it were bigger so Michael could use it for longer period, but it is perfect for Michael to sit on when he takes his bath, so I snatched it! Michael likes it very much! We don't shower Michael with too many material things, he usually just make do with everything that he finds around the house to play with - we don't even bring toys in his diaper bag, because he will always, always, find something to play with, say, a spoon and salt and pepper shaker when we take him out to restaurants - but he does appreciate anything that we give him. For the first few days of receiving the blue chair, he would carry it everywhere with him and telling everybody that "Mommy bought me a new chair!"

Going Out

In my younger days, I used to go clubbing till the wee hour of the morning. After college, I grew out of it, prefering to hang out at coffee shops instead. Now that I'm married, I prefer to stay at home. However, once in a while, Mommy and Daddy need to release their inner wild side! Hubby got VIP ticket to the biggest outdoor rave party in town - Djakarta Warehouse Project - , and he asked if I would like to tag along. I thought, why not, I haven't been going clubbing for years, so there's no harm in tagging along this time.

"What should I wear?" I asked him.

"Oh, I don't know. Clubbing clothes?" he replied.

Nice, how do I suppose to know what young people wear when they go clubbing these days? I know it's outdoor, and last year it was raining hard on the venue, so many girls this year opt for simple clothes of shorts and tank tops and flip flops. Still, since I made a concious decision to dress more modestly, I no longer feel comfortable showing so much skin. I never wear anything above mid thigh anymore, except for underwear and swimwear!

I finally decided on a sleeveless gold dress that hit above the knee. It was eyecatching because of the gold color, and has a "clubbing" feel, but it doesn't show too much legs nor cleavage.

Well, it was a fun night out. We left the house around 10.00 pm. We hung out at the VIP booth with free flow drinks, which I didn't care, since I don't drink alcohol. The music was good, the atmosphere was hip, young and fun, and loud. It was reminiscence of the time when I was young and free and didn't have a care in the world, but I found out that I really had grown out of it. And Hubby, as well. By 1 am we were ready to leave and went back home to our non glamorous, absolutely wonderful family life. ^__^



Old Friends

I met a high school friend in December who sell High Desert health products and multivitamins for a living. I didn't know that before, but I happened to share my predicament in my high school chatting groups about this terrible migraine that I always suffer during my period. Every month, I would have two non-productive days because of this hormonal sickness, and it really tortures me. When the migraine hit, it is painful even to read a book or speak. Even sleeping is a painful effort. That's 24 days a year! Some friends share their success story of consuming High Desert products, so I decided to buy a bottle from Johan, the friend whom I mentioned. It is quite expensive, but I will try it for three months to see if it works. Because if it works, it will be worth every penny! Wish me luck!

At The Office

We had an office year-end party. We all were supposed to wear Disney costumes, but people ended up wearing Arabian costume, newspaper costumes, reindeer, Ironman, etc. I wore an Arabian-style three-quarter length pants, a blue top, and braided my hair with a blue scarf to imitate Princess Jasmine. Well, Oriental Jasmine, anyway. Hahaha! It was really fun. 

 

For the food, everybody was asked a contribution of two dollars, and one of the girls asked if I would like to contribute more. I looked her straight in the eye and said, "No." She was perplexed because I usually were willing to contribute more to office events. "I'm not willing to contribute more because I have to write down the amount I contribute on the sign up paper for all the world to see, " I explained to her. Then I smiled, "Besides, I have a better plan with the money that I should be contributing today." Lisa, one of the young admin staff, laughed and said, "OK, Mam, I believe that you do." 

 

Well, I do have a plan on how I'm going to make my contribution, but my team will not find out until next year! Secret!

 

On New Year's Eve

 

I was pregnant during our honeymoon, and the pregnancy was a difficult one, so for our first New Year's Eve as a married couple, Hubby and I could not go anywhere. So, Hubby decided that since he didn't want to get bored to death, - because during the whole nine months I could not go anywhere except around our neighborhood, and he doesn't like going out without his wife - he would learn how to cook. Turned out he is a good cook! He cooked for New Year's Eve, and over the years, it has become our family tradition. He would cook for New Year's Eve dinner, then we would eat and watch TV to see how people celebrate NYE all over the world. Then we prayed and went to sleep. This year, on January 31 morning, the three of us, me, Hubby and our son, went to the nearest grocery store to purchase meat, vegetables, fruit and other things that Hubby needed to cook our NYE feast. Too bad I forgot to take pictures of what he cooked!

 

Michael is a toddler now and he loves to help! Here he's helping Mommy to push the shopping cart. ^__^

 

 

This is the man of mine cooking our NYE dinner. He cooked my favorites: fried chicken with lots of spices, shrimp sauteed with some butter and oyster sauce, and vegetable dish.

 

He is a good provider, a father who takes our son for walks almost every morning (and changing diaper so his wife can snooze a little longer), he cooks, and he is the family clown. What more a wife to ask for? Haha!

AND he cleans the kitchen after the cooking session! Lol.

 

Goodbye, 2014! Thank you for everything!

Hello, 2015! Bring it on!