IKEA and the pots!

New pot. Checked. Induction hob-friendly crockeries. Checked. Lint rollers. Checked. Got what we wanted from IKEA last night and they weren't exactly your normal stuff you could get then elsewhere, but at IKEA, you could get them all under one roof. Which was a boon.

We were worried about the crowd initially, this being the school holidays and all, but it turned out to be a pleasant walk. We spent at least a couple of hours there, just me and Anita, and we rarely stayed long to shop usually. The crowd was thin and even the queue at the check-out was short.

Shall we have meatballs at the cafe for dinner? Nah! Not romantic enough. We decided to go elsewhere. Candle-lit of course.

IKEA at Night

I never realized that IKEA was opened until 11 pm during weekends. we found out about it last night when we took a late stroll around The Curve. On the way out Puan Anita decided to see if they were still opened and they were.

We did not do any shopping though as we could imagine the queue would be long that late. The boys were getting tired as well. Anita wanted to see if there were any new furnitures as we would be on a hunt for the new apartment we were planning to move into next month.

Even at this hour, the place was still packed. The cafe was still filled up with shoppers. And this was at the start of the long Chinese New Year weekend. Imagine if it was a normal weekend when all the city dwellers were around. I can imagine it would be a hassle getting things done at that hour.

We had problem heading back to the car park though. At 10 pm sharp, the underground walkway from Ikano to The Curve we're closed. We had to go up the ground level and cross the road. Walk into the mall at the main entrance and make our way down to the car park via the mall. A bit if a hassle if you were carrying your shopping .....

School's Opened

We went to bed early last night. The boys were already tucked by 8.30 pm, all in preparation for an early start this morning. Today was the first day of school year for the both of them, with Idlan going into Year One. But the unexpected happened. Both Idlan and Irfan woke up at midnight, and Idlan only managed to go back to sleep at 4 am.

We managed to get both of them up by 6am and ready to leave the house just after seven. Amazingly, Idlan not only finished school at 3 pm without a fuss, he went to Sekolah Agama from 5 to 7 pm. Plenty of energy this boy, and not only that, he played a round of Wii after dinner and only just now went into the bedroom. Irfan was already sleeping at 6 pm and hopefully, he wouldn’t wake up until the morning.

The boys were excited with their new school friends. Irfan had 21 students in his kindy class, and according to the teacher, it will be split in the next few days. As for Idlan, there were 15 in his class, most of them new friends. The class division for Idlan was rather confusing in the beginning, but it was sorted out by the end. We have already got their books last week from school, so that bit was already organised. The main fuss on the day was the fact that the canteen was closed, and for the term, food will be served in class. Since Idlan was be fussy eater, Anita was worried, and sure enough when we asked him today, he hardly ate anything for lunch.

Irfan finished his class at midday, so while waiting for 3 pm, we went over to IKEA to pick up some more stuff for our newly renovated room. While there, we sampled the famous Swedish meatballs, and finished them off with some ice-cream - Irfan’s favourite. Then it was time to sort Idlan out. He was all excited with school today and couldn’t stop talking about class and his new friends. Surprisingly, he was still up for the Sekolah Agama, where most of his schoolmates from kindy still goes to.

To IKEA we went

It was fast becoming a ritual now. Going out on Friday evenings. Friday tends to be a long day for me. Long clinic in the morning, well into the time to get ready for Solat. Occasionally I might have to return to clinic after that, tussling with the Neurologist who have since taken over my room for their clinic in the afternoon. Luckily, with the increased number of Medical Officers in the Unit, this was becoming less frequent.

After clinic, it was tutorial. Then some paperwork before signing off. I'll be doing the weekend round tomorrow morning, so I made sure that things were in order before leaving. The boys were screaming for me to take them out when I reached home, so after a quick discussion with Puan Anita, IKEA was the destination tonight.

The buzzing cafetariaSince I missed lunch, I had an early dinner upon arrival at IKANO. The IKEA cafe seemed very popular, even though it was just after 7 pm, it was already full. Luckily, the staffs there were very efficient and those who stopped there were eager to get on with their shopping. We got our food very quickly and got settled in. There were mainly seafood on the menu. I had some poached salmon. It was overcooked and dry, but not too bad. The boys had some nuggets and chips. They were already full after having tea at home before we came out, so they weren't that fussy. Puan Anita wanted to get a new blackboard for the boys, and that's what we got, plus some toys for good measure.

Now you see it ....It was going .....Now, it was half gone .....After putting the stuffs into the car, we then went for a stroll. It wasn't long before we all felt tired. We stopped for a quick coffee at Dome before calling it a night. Arriving home, I went through the story of the day so far. The Chilean miners. ManYoo preparing for the weekend's game. But the story of the day was definitely the announcement of the 100 floor skyscraper near Stadium Merdeka. I wonder where the money came from. Maybe it was from the thousands I have in my Amanah Saham ......

The reason why we went out in the first place .....

Evening stroll

Welcome to the evening stroll at The CurveI will be off from today. Will not be back to work for a week. Taking time off for the coming Raya and all. It was the school holidays. Right after work, we went out for dinner outside. Nothing fancy, steamboat at IKANO. Since we got there early, we went to browse at IKEA. Anita needed a new whiteboard to teach the boys maths and stuff. We couldn't believe that it was sold out! Yes, it's school holidays. But I don't think all parents are teaching their kids during the break ... Or at least I don't think.

Yes! I made Idlan carry some stuff in IKEA!

We quickly shuffled for steamboat right after that. Done with dinner, we just strolled along. There is an offer going on at England Optical upstairs. You can get more discount using UOB Card, so I started thinking ..... That Oakley looks nice. The glasses I'm wearing now is almost 10 years-old anyhow. Tried a few. Anita insisted that I get one. Yes it was an Oakley. It will be ready in the next couple of days. Just in time for our trip to Fraser's Hill. The only problem I think I will have with it will be the shape of the lens. It will be a curved one due to the frame and since I have astigmatism, I reckon that the glass will be thick at the edge. Hopefully it will still be OK!

The decor being set upNext, we brought the boys to the playground. They need to burn off some energy, plus leaving Anita to do some shopping of her own. The Xmas lights and trees are being installed at the Curve at the moment. I am sure by the time they are ready they will look nice. I can still remember the decor from a couple of years back. That was really stunning. They will have to do something special to beat that, and also the current one that is up at Pavilion. Before we leave, we also stopped by at Marche. During the school holidays, they have activities for kids. There is a pizza-making lesson 3 times a week and we signed Idlan up for this Thursday. I will write about it after Idlan is done with that. It cost RM20 for the lesson but they provide all the material and gears. That should be fun!

As for tomorrow, I have a lot of errands to do. Need to pay the bills. Maybe heading to Sungai Wang to browse as well.

Disclaimer - This blog was written while listening to Brett Dennen - cool stuff!