Kitchen Makeover: Day 18

11 February 2010, Thursday
Day 18

Time sure flies, and today is already Day 18 of my kitchen makeover. Today, Ah Ki managed to continue with the wall tiling only after 12:00 p.m when Jali delivered more tiles. Because of this delay, Ah Ki did not manage to complete all the walls. The balance of the walls can only be tiled after Chinese New Year.

With effect from tomorrow, the Chinese workers would take a week's break before they resumed work.

And today, Kamal Pest Control came to do treatment of termites in my kitchen before the workers lay the floor tiles.

 My area is notoriously known as a termite-infested area, but was later told by the worker that the ENTIRE KL is ACTUALLY infested with these vicious pests. As the other parts of my house are still in a mess, they would come back, probably 6 to 8 weeks later to complete the treatment.

Coupled with the extreme heatwave that we have been experiencing the last couple of adys, I'm getting very irritable and impatient with the slow progress of my kitchen makeover. And looking at my house condition, I'm on the verge of going bonkers....

Kitchen Makeover: Day 17

10 February 2010, Wednesday
Day 17

It's 4 days to Chinese New Year, and the Chinese workers are vigorously laying the tiles on my kitchen wall. The walls now are beginning to look very pretty.

They managed to complete 90% of the wall tiling today. I'm certain everything will be complete by tomorrow.

And day after, the Indonesian workers can take over work on tiling the floor, fixing the gutters, and grille.

What's left to be done after CNY would be to do the cabinet, fix all the lightings, the cooker hood, the hob, the fan, and the taps.

And once all that's done, I've to begin the ardous, challenging, back-breaking and tough job of cleaning up the mess arising from just the kitchen makeover (the living room, the dining room, my father-in-law's room, the family hall, and my bedroom), of course with the help of my temp maids. And although I'm looking forward to using my new made-up kitchen, I do not relish the thought of the cleaning-up. Oh, my!!!

Bapak, my father-in-law

10 February 2010, Wednesday

Mak, ayah, last week Amir (your son-in-law) and I went to visit bapak (my father-in-law). Somehow, this visit was different. I felt bapak seemed really sad, he looked really folorn, despondent and dejected.

And despite Amir feeding him lunch yesterday, heseemed lost in a world of his own. And he didn't even eat very much, heate like a bird.

When I looked at him, it brought tears to my eyes. This was the man who used to be very strong, this was my father-in-law who used to be very concerned about my welfare. This was the father who used to fuss over his 3 children (Amir, Tini and Hanafi). This was the husband who used to love his wife so very much.

Bapak used to take the trouble to pluck giant mangoes from his house compound in Tanjung Bungah, Penang, packed them lovinggly in a box and sent them to us in KL via train.

He used to do that at least twice a month. And when I was pregnant, he would also send via parcel, asam boi (sour tidbits) which he would buy from the sinseh shop as he reckoned I would love to eat sour stuff during my pregnancies.

And everytime we went back to Penang, and upon arrival, he would drive us to Balik Pulau to buy the best durians as he knew both Amir and I and the kids would drool over durians.

And without fail, he would buy tons of yummy foodstuff for us to savour, food like apam manis, pulut inti, pasembur, tokua goreng, ais kacang, nasi beriyani, murtabak, just to name some of the delectable dishes you can find in the Pearl of the Orient, as what Penang is famously known as.

And when we visited him last week, he looked many shades of his old self. He simply couldn't remember my name but commented that I'm Amir's wife. Amazingly, and without fail, he'd remember Amir's name.

Mak, Ayah, I felt very sad when I looked at Bapak. It tugged my heart to look at him in this condition. It brought back memories of my time with you, Mak, Ayah, and Mak (my mother-in-law). Time seemed to zoom by.

I felt it was only yesterday that all of you were still around, spending time with your kids and grand children. I missed you Mak, Ayah, and Mak. And I coudn't bear to look at Bapak when we bade him goodbye. He was near to tears as I salam and kissed his hands, and as Amir hugged and kissed him.

Bapak, I couldn't bear the look on your weather-beaten, wrinkled, depressing, and heart-rending face as you turned and stared at us, as we began to leave you. Your dejected and forlorn look would haunt me for a very long time. Bapak, we love you very much. Mak, Ayah, Mak, we missed you so very much.

Kitchen Makeover: Day 16

9 February 2010 (Tuesday)
Day 16

Today, they brought more sand to mix with the cement for the wall tiling as work on tiling the walls continued, and finally it's taking shape.

They managed to complete two walls, and I reckoned all the walls will be completed by Thursday.

Heard from Jali that the Chinese workers will cease work on Friday as most would be going back to their respective hometowns for Chinese New Year.

Hence, the Indonesian workers will take over w.e.f Friday. Tiling the floor requires less skill than tiling the walls, so I'm less perturbed.

Meanwhile, my husband and I went to PJ Old Town to buy taps and bathroom accesories for the kitchen sink, for the washing machine and also for our master bathroom.

We ended up at the same shop, Hanlim Trading Sdn Bhd, a shop which we first patronized about 20 years ago.  They're still standing tall, the design, the shape of the shop still looks the same.  The only difference is, the things they stock which are more in line with contemporary designs.

Having done that, we're through and done with shopping for accessorries and stuff for the kitchen.

I can't wait for the kitchen makeover to be completed as it's been 16 days since they started and I pray and hope it's worth all the money, effort and inconvenience we have to put up with.