I finally made/found time (lepas dah berbulan kat rumah!) to force myself to clean up my utility cum storeroom. Got rid of apa yang patut (or yang tidak patut?), especially stuff from the olden days – collectibles to reminisce college and pre-marital, pre-mommyhood years. Mostly stuff in print-lah, like books, magazines, cards, print-outs. Ada juga memorabilia dari errr... 'peminat-peminat' lama. *wink*
And oh, also folders, training materials, technical manuals. Ugh. Berkotak-kotak jumlahnya. I wanted to sell them off to the old newspaper man, but he didn’t want to take them. Cis. So, apart from getting famyBoy to recycle whatever possible, I decided to donate the old magazines to the mommies of Salaam Wanita for them to use to make hand-woven baskets. I won one of those baskets in a lucky draw sometime ago. Really pretty craftmanship, and made only from recycled magazine pages!

While I was on a cleaning spree, I decided to attack the kitchen cabinets as well. I have this one 'gerobok' cabinet which was a very convenient place to keep almost everything, from extra plates, cups and saucers, tupperwares, cereal, pasta pelbagai, a bottle of Horlicks, Milo 3-in-1 packets, a tin of Birds’ cornstarch, Quaker oats, cocoa powder, some instant noodles, jelly mixes, various types of spices (bottled ones, packaged ones)… you name it.

First I took out all the plastic containers and/or tupperwares (yang bermacam warna tu) and their covers/lids. As (un)expected, the numbers of containers vs. lids do not match. I had more lids than containers. Aik?? And even worse, some of the lids do not fit their supposedly correct containers. Cemana tuh?? And to think that I’ve been keeping and storing them in my cupboard all these times. Konon-kononnya, senang nanti bila nak pack food, kalau simpan bebanyak camtu. *slaps forehead*

Then I removed the non-perishables and checked the expiry dates on each of the items. Soooo much stuff!! Some items I don’t even remember buying. Suffice to say, after all the identifying and sorting and throwing out, I managed to fill up an entire beg sampah hitam. Sungguh puas rasa hatiku.

Anyways…

I forgot (and didn’t bother to remember) to take the 'Before' declutter, sort & arrange pictures. But I'm glad I didn't, coz it would’ve been an embarrassment to all at-home mommies and (self-proclaimed) goddesses everywhere! *blush*

But looky, looky!! Look at the final outcome. Not too bad, eh? Everything has been arranged neatly, grouped by usage and type. I even went a step further to label the jars and containers with their expiry dates accordingly. Ms. M@rtha would’ve been proud of me. Hee hee hee.



The real reason for taking pictures of the now tidy gerobok was to make sure I remember how it looked like (when it was spanking neat) in case I happened to mess it up again in future. At least I’d have a baseline to refer to. But so far, things are looking pretty good. Almost a month now, and my gerobok is as tidy and organized as it was 3+ weeks ago. *pats self on back*

Upcoming goddessy projects:
0. Kemas store bawah tangga; deadline: TBD
1. Sort kids' old clothes & books; deadline: TBD
2. Go through old photo albums, sort and file all unfiled photographs; deadline: TBD

Gosh! Still a long way to go and so much to do. I think I'll start by thinking of reasonable (and achievable) deadlines first. *grins*

Oh, by the way, I am down to <50 blog alerts to read (from 600+ alerts before!). A big accomplishment for someone who is rarely online. :)

Oh wow! I can’t believe the month of January came and went, just like that! And we’re already in the 2nd week of February 2008, i.e. Sofea's 6th week of primary school, and it’s going to be my 5th month being a sahm.

I met an old friend who asked me how things are going so far.
I might be wrong but somehow I got the impression that she was implying how 'lepak-ed' (relaxed) my current life must be. True, true, I don’t have to deal with office-related matters, on-call support or difficult customers and the likes. But I am still responsible for daily problem-solving(s) and still need to deal with plans going haywire and also deadlines! Sheesh.

I wasn’t offended or anything because I used to have similar thoughts myself, so I just told her that until now, I've never had the chance to feel bored. There’s always something to do, wash, fold, iron, pick up, clean, arrange. So many questions to answer. Siblings fighting over the same crayon. She claims it's hers, and he insisted that siblings must share, no matter what. Then it’s vice versa. She wants to 'help' build the railway tracks her way, even though the trains and tracks are his, and he prefers his trains to "masuk tunnel dulu, baru boleh wheeeeee".

Apart from home-keeping and freelance work, there’s the planning of meals and cooking. Not a super-easy task for a mommy whose 'masakan database' is not big enough to begin with. *blush*
But I’m happy to say that work on extending the database is currently ongoing, and more data recipes are being uploaded, and updated on a weekly basis. As I am typing this entry, g00gle is helping to search for a new quick & easy way to prepare a yummy chicken dish for tomorrow's lunch. hee hee hee.

And of course, things get much much 'trickier' when the other parent goes outstation for days (which happens quite often nowadays, unfortunately). Goes without saying-lah, this one. Ooohhh… the responsibilities, the drama, the dilemma. Mencabar sungguh.

I haven’t had the luxury to read either, unlike that time. I started Life is an Open Secret, I think sometime mid of January, and have not finished reading it yet, and it’s not even a huge book!



So if you don’t see me around often, you’d know why. I always planned to visit you folks, but I’d end up having to do something else. *sigh* Sometimes I’d manage to steal time to read your entries, and leave a comment or two. But more often than not, I’d be a silent visitor or reader. It’s not my original intention though. Y’all know how much I love you, kan? kan? kan? :)

Errr… do I sound like I’m complaining about not having the chance to feel bored? Ooopps!! :P

Less stressful, definitely; no boring moments, and interestingly demanding.
That would correctly describe my current at-home life.

It's been about 3 months since I resigned from my job at that multinational company to become a stay-at-home Ibu.

So what has happened since then? Meh sini saya cerita...

Firstly, a brief background... I was working fulltime for a multinational/IT company doing server support and project management. Last September (my 10th year working there, after 5 bosses and the outsourcing), I decided to quit and stay home. Why? Many reasons, actually.

But the main reason was (and still is) because my daughter will be attending Primary One next year. Without a helper (we chose never to have one), and non-flexible working hours which included weekends and public holidays, I didn't know how I'd manage. I thought that I, too, could be a supermom, like some of my friends are, but I couldn't... what was I trying to prove?



Aidiin drew Thomas the Tank Engine


My husband and I have had lengthy discussions about the matter for some time. Deep down, I knew I didn't want to be stuck with that job forever. And finding a different (full-time) job, although it may pay much more, would still land me in the same dilemma. Serba salah makcik dibuatnya. Pening kepala toksah cakaplah.

I prayed and prayed, asking Allah for guidance. And come last September, I found/was given a petunjuk, the urge to quit and stay home had never been stronger. It just felt right and seemed the best thing to do.
A decision was made, and I have been a stay-at-home-mommy since then, and I'd like to think, a goddess-in-the-making, too. *grin*

You see, I do not have the luxury to be a full-time goddess. I still have loans to pay apart from my credit card bills. Before I decided to quit, I used to have plastic urges all the time. Nak buku yang ni, swipe. Nak buku lagi satu, swipe lagi. Teringin jubah tu, swipe. Jumpa tudung yang matching, swipe. Terasa nak beli toys and clothes for the kids or something for the husband, swipe. Swipe, swipe, swipe. Plastic urges, they all were. *hangs head in shame*

And (fortunately?) I am not married to a super-kaya man. But personally, even if he could afford it, I don't think I'd be asking him for money, especially to pay MY bills. It just wouldn't be fair. And plus I have a big ego. heh heh.
Also, I think he'd mentioned this to me before, "Lubang yang sendiri korek, sendiri kambus balik". Sungguh profound statement itu.

I still often get my cravings, although they have become more under-controlled and manageable nowadays. Instead of 5, maybe I'd buy just 2, or even 1. Sometimes just spending some time at the store (without buying anything, mind you) would suffice. Orang yang 'ketagih' macam ni pun ada kat dunia ini, kan? hee hee hee.

Anyways, as mentioned earlier, I am not financially free, so the 'ideal goddess life' is out of the question (for now). Therefore, I resorted to the next best thing, to become a work-at-home-mommy. A goddess who works freelance, whenever she can find the time. This is in addition to the existing event management company that I co-own with Elisa, by the way. I need the freelance job for a predictable income, as opposed to the events thingy which only happens once in a while.



Under the sea


So far, things are working out, not too bad at all. I still make some money to pay my debts, and more importantly, I get to work from the comfort of my own home. But it still requires a certain amount of disciplining, a quite strict time-management and a juggling of work-work and house-work at the same time. I am still struggling with all that, a bit lah.

Initially, I felt slightly terkilan, financial-wise, because now, I have a very ciput income, with no such things as medical-benefits, no year-end bonuses. Which translates to no buying on impulse, no unplanned shopping or cravings. Give in to temptations? Definite no-no.

But that's okay. Seriously. Because now I've learned (the hard way?) the value of money. The necessity of managing time carefully. The importance of making the right choices, depending on situation and time. Spend long hours blogging or do extra freelance work? Hmmmm....

And Alhamdulillah, so far:
- I get to ensure famyBoy and famyKids get to eat home-cooked meals as often as possible, albeit taklah sesedap mana.
- I attempt to perform solat pada awal waktu as opposed to rushing to perform '2-in-1 zuhur & terus tunggu asar' masa kat surau office dulu. Constantly reminding myself about one of Ondeonde's older posts about the benefits of reciting ayat-ayat Quran walaupun sikit-sikit setiap hari (OO, if you could provide the link to that post that would be great!), I try my best to regularly read the Quran after performing solat.
- I get excited about experimenting with new recipes and thinking about home deco and practicing 'good things' homekeeping techniques. This is the penangan from watching way too many Martha shows!!
- I don't have to worry about applying for emergency leave like that time or that other time, nor do I have to deal with the guilt of having to delegate work to colleagues whenever I am away from office, for whatever reasons. Alhamdulillah, so far the kids tak sakit demam yang major-major since the past 3 months!
- I am very much up-to-date in keeping up with laundry :) except when we come back from long distance trips or when it's cloudy or rainy for days.
- I think I multi-task better nowadays, too. I think, lah.
- Apart from famyBoy and famyKids, famyCats and famyPlants get more attention from me. Sebab now can multi-task better maaa...



Pokok kari pun ada flowers, eh?



I feel blessed. Seriously I do. Alhamdulillah.

But if you ask me, I still have a looooong way to go. Not easy to become established goddesses like Madame Elisa@Khobar and Madame Lollies@Qtar. Izinkan saya tabik spring kepada mereka berdua.

Kesimpulannya, I am still learning to manage the time, handle the stress and fulfill the demands. And the best part is, I couldn't be happier. :)