Tahun Baru?

Salam,

dalam kalendar omputih memang hari ini ialah 1 januari 2012. 

dalam kalendar islam, hari ni ialah...

(secara jujur, sesapa yang nak kutuk silakan, tapi memang min tak hafal sebab dah terlalu biasa dengan kalendar omputih.)

so, i googled and today is 6 Safar, 1433H.

yes, i grew up looking at the Gregorian calendar. ketara kan?

last year (i think) and this year, i chose a calender that has the Islamic dates on them as well.

we learn. i cant memorise it yet but i feel its better, personally.

last night, i was looking a an FB status update and i read that instead of waiting for the clock to strike 12 last night, why dont we sleep early and cuba untuk bangun solat tahajud.

well, untuk yang ada anak-anak, tido lewat sikit untuk bawak anak-anak menikmati percikan bunga api apa salahnya, bukan selalu kan, setahun sekali je. 
m bernasib baik tahun ni adik m ada bersama dan kebetulan, sepupu m buat open house sambil menikmati pemandangan di waktu malam. 
jadi, m lepas tangan dan adik m bawa anak-anak m bersama plus the fact yang m nak tunggu husband m balik dari hospital sebab menemankan abah pegi checkup dan sementara menantikan dia pulang, mata m dah layu)

semua berbalik pada niat kita..

nak meng'havoc'kan "Tahun Baru" atau nak enjoy bunga api bersama keluarga dan atau-atau yang lain..

m pun cuba utk tido awal. awal-awal pun dh 11 lebih (malam) dan  terjaga bila terdengar bunyi mercun yang seakan-akan bunyi bom dan tembakan meriam. 

woke up just to say Happy New Year to hubby who was busy assembling his paintball gun and went back to sleep.

woke up (loo time) just when hubby was about to sleep, 2.40 AM. 

wow! late!

of course i slept after.

still, it was not a restful night.

i did set the alarm at 5am but i dont remember if i heard the alarm went off or maybe i did and i pressed the 'dismiss' button i am not sure. 

i do remember waking up after 5.45 am and pressed the 'dismiss' button and went back to sleep. 

woke up at 7.07am, just in time for loo time and the Subuh prayers.

sad but true.

malu m, pada Yang Maha Melihat, kerana masih lagi lalai.

dalam melakukan yang asas dan banyak lagi perkara-perkara lain yang tak m nyatakan di sini.

i need to make a (some) change(s) in my life. 

orang nak kata apa sukahatilah. 

syurga dan neraka dalam pilihan tangan masing-masing. 

kita hanya boleh mengingatkan diri sendiri dan mereka-mereka, menasihati tapi terpulang bagaimana cara dan apa pilihan kita untuk berubah ke arah yang lebih baik.

takde siapa yang boleh lari dari dosa-dosa semalam. 

Astaghfirullahalazim.

apa yang kita boleh buat sekarang adalah terus melakukan perubahan ke jalan yang diredhaiNYA dan mengharap keampunan dariNYA.

m kena cuba lagi malam ni. 

mana tau, tiba-tiba mata m celik secelik-celiknya dan boleh bangun dan melakukan solat malam.

kalau tak boleh malam ni, kita cuba lagi malam-malam yang seterusnya. InsyaAllah..

m aiming for weekends tapi kalau weekday pun terjaga, harap-harap m tak peluk bantal dan tarik selimut semula..
(percentage lebih mengarah ke pilihan ini but i hope not!! ciS!!)

m tak pernah kata m baik. 

i have to admit that i'm a nutcase, most of the time, seriously.

very very very complicated person.

m tak pernah kata m ni nak jadi ustazah.

bagaimana m nak mengajar orang sekiranya diri sendiri masih melakukan kesilapan?

m hanya berupaya menulis, berkata-kata dan berharap agar m dapat melakukan apa yang m katakan..

iye, tak dapat m nafikan, berkata-kata itu lebih mudah daripada melakukan.

Semoga Allah mempermudahkan segala urusan kita denganNYA..

InsyaAllah..

Merokok@Smoking@Naga – Tabiat Buruk yang Tak berkesudahan?

Salam,

m nya mood memang sentiasa naik turun.

Been like this since.... forever...

menopause?

i hope not, it’s too early and i have yet to conceive, again. Hahaha.

yea yea i know too much info..

you can just disregard that if you don’t mind..  =)

back to my unpredictable moodswings..

we’ve had been receiving news of relatives passing.  Only 2, but still very recent.

i don’t have to say who.. not necessary.

topik m ialah berkenaan penyakit yang dihidapi yang mungkin menjadi penyebab kematian.

one died because of lung cancer if i’m not mistaken and another of a heart failure.

lifestyle: smoking is definitely one of them..

i don’t want to specify heavy smoker or a light smoker because we know that as long as you get it (the smoke) into you, then the risk is there.

i don’t understand smokers..

they do it when they know its bad for them. Why?

tak pelik ke camtu?

i think it is. Plain weird.

First, the CONTENT of the cigarette is already supposed to make you cringe from even considering it. Yet you buy and smoke it anyway. You ignore that fact.
(i got the no smoking image online after googling a no smoking sign to paste around the office. Courtesy of KUWEIGHT 64. I added the "Dilarang Merokok" and the "No Smoking" words on it.)

Second, the printed pictures SHOW you what it can cause. Yet you buy and smoke it anyway. You ignore that fact.

Third, people DYING with many different types of illnesses caused by smoking or being a second-hand smoker (which is worse.) Yet you still buy and smoke it anyway. You ignore that fact.

do you have to be dying of an illness caused by smoking for you to realise its negative effects?

can’t you even think for yourself BEFORE that happens?

yes, tak ketara ke that m totally frustrated with this?

i mean, come on, you should realise that it’s bad with all the signs OBVIOUSly showing how bad it is.

why cant you open your eyes?

look, my dad was a smoker.

from what he told us, he started coughing one day and then just like that, he stopped.

Yup, Cold-Turkey!

sudden stop of having any nicotine, wow!

the only withdrawal symptom he had was lifting his two fingers as if he was smoking. you know, to grip the cigarette stick. and nothing else.. NICE..

the fact that he stopped immediately, now that is interesting!

see, what is important here is your WILL.

whatever you want to do, you can actually Just Do It! (No, this is not an advert for Nike.)

m repeating this old saying,

“Where there’s a Will, there’s a way!”

but where is that Will of yours?

takkan tak ada langsung keinginan untuk melakukan satu kebaikan for your own body?

talking about this..

list of my have to do's :

exercise,

just 20 minutes 3 times a week is sooooo difficult!

stop eating when my tummy is full,

m tak nak membazir that why i try to finish whatever is served on my plate, and others!! 

oops, the cat is out of the bag!!

reduce my intake of red meat and reduce my cholesterol level.

uuuuh, i loooove lamb!! maybe i can take more oats instead, and still keep lamb?

listen to the call of nature and not ignore it till the last minute,

if you know what i mean..

there should be more but i cant recall…

i have to find my will to start doing those things I’ve mentioned above and others that arent.

but what about you?

have you even thought about it?

4th Batch!! Curdled again!!

Salam,

My 4th batch, curdled. 

not as much as my 1st batch. 

still, it curdled.

see pics below.

nice colour haa ;)

looks so creamy.. 

bahan-bahan yang digunakan ialah 

minyak kelapa sawit, minyak zaitun, minyak canola, dan NaOH. 

tak lupa juga santan kelapa sebagai ganti air.

no fragrance.

 

see the texture?

cantik kan...

bila lagi nak perasan..

hehehe

i lined it all in a box.. love the texture..

you cant really see the curdled spots. pix not clear.. the white dots..

 

so i grated it..

letih giler dok garit sabun ni k.

next round kena lebih berhati-hati.

the coconut cream must not be too too frozen.

nanti curdle lagi, lagi payah!!

melted it and added cili kering 

ayah kata kalau kulit tu luka, kena cili ni mesti pedih.

tapi m dah letak dah, tak leh nak buat apa-apa lagi.

pedih nanti pun pedih laa..kalau ada luka laa.

i also added cinnamon and activated charcoal powder..

cili kering tu nampak cam kaler oren.

cinnamon tu nampak cam brown ke purple?

and activated charcoal doesnt really look grey, 

nampak cam kaler biru pun ada gak. kan? 

blue grey gitu..

kat atas ni gambar sabun yang dah dipotong..

if you can see in some pictures, i sprinkled and pressed hard, on top, crushed almonds..

as hard as i pressed it doesnt stick to the soap much!

why o why!!

yang ni gambar 2 hujung..
the top end, can see that i didnt pack the soap nicely coz
you can see some gap there between the coloured soaps.

 

you can see that each bar is different from one another.
all unique bars..

cun!!

top picture,
the brownish purplish one - cinnamon,
(macam kaler lebam kan..)
orangy - dried chilli powder
bluish grey - activated charcoal powder.

see the lines in top picture, that was made when i cut the bars,
the crushed almonds followed the knife as i cut.

i cut too thin..
and senget benget
so ada yang gemuk at one end and thinner kat hujung.

gambar2 atas ni ialah gambar2 yang gatal nak dimasukkan

ye la, pas guna nanti dah tak ada proof nak tunjuk atau nak ingat balik , 

"oo m, pernah buat sabun pelik ni.."

hahaha

chao!!

Another Disappointment... =(

Salam,

I made my soap, not on Saturday but just yesterday.

I did it almost like the 2nd and 3rd time, using frozen coconut milk..

but the coconut milk froze on me, again!!

i mixed it with lye and stirred and it became grainy as usual.

i covered it as i was doing something else.

but when i open the cover, it was solidifying!!

i think because the coconut milk ice chunks was too huge. maybe.
so the lye had warmed just enough to melt the chunks but the process stopped because it was too cold.
i should've hacked it into smaller pieces, like ice cube sizes in ice cube tray.

i stirred it again and it was still grainy but thick.

i mixed it with the oils and using the hand mixer brought it to trace (after about an hour or so) but the were still specks of coconut milk in it.
I even placed the bowl on a pan of hot water.
well, i didnt know what else to do.
i thought it would help but didnt see any difference.

it was almost at a thick trace when i poured it into the moulds
(yup, i made a bigger batch this time so i had to use 1.5 moulds (shoebox-size).

like the first CP soap, i'm going to have to grate it once it hardens and do the rebatch thing again!

tiresome!

grating takes time...

and the rebatch thing is time consuming not too mention tiring.

but it has to be done.

good luck to me!!

=(


chao chao

more soap please..

Salam,

think its time m mula buat sabun baru..
i'll still be using the same oils and EO since m tak beli apa-apa minyak atau/dan EO baru lagi.
aaargh!!   i now i should tapi nantilah tunggu m stable sikit.

skarang tengah menggaru kepala untuk menyimpan duit untuk travel..

ataupun m bayar kat mak balik ansur-ansur which is a better option...
i need to discuss that with mak later laa.. (wink wink)

well, i'm itching to make at least one new batch
maybe without activated charcoal this time and perhaps a bigger quantity if i want to make the nice top swirls...hmm...

i will still want to use coconut milk instead of water.. since i dont have coconut oil.


i should start tomorrow!


i should..

chao chao!

Remilled (Grated) - 1st CP soap

Salam,

i grated my 1st CP soap. 

you know.. the one that curdled.

the grating was difficult because the soap was soft.

i cut my fingers :(

 its finally healing today 

(when the skin closes and you dont see a cut much anymore)

so all is well..

i placed the grated soap into a zipped plastic bag and double bagged it 

and put it in a pan of boiling water.

it got soft after a long while of kneading and boiling repeatedly 

and i made 2 shapes out of it..

not forgetting the extra extra lavender EO i added 

and m rasa m letak banyak sangat sebab bau dia kurang menarik..

yup, it doesnt smell so good

 :(

this soap had butter in it. 

you know, the butter we eat with bread. 

yes, that butter.

i had trouble finding a soap calculator that has the SAP for butter..

after browsing only 3 or 4 websites..

palm, olive, castor. 

i think thats the whole lot of it.. 

no fragrance in the first try and it smelled kinda like baby's puke

gross? 

not really... 

haha

baby only takes milk and when they burp, 

sometimes the half-processed milk comes out with the air so it smells a bit weird.

(yes, this info is for those who does not know that baby's vomit too haha)

so my soap smelled like that, 

only stronger, 

thus the reason i added lavender into it.

but it stills smell weird after, so what to do..

maybe it was the coconut milk that i used instead of water.. hmm..

i'm still going to use it in 2 weeks time and i hope it will harden by then 

as it is very very soft now.

i did a 36% water (coconut milk) with the soap calculator at soapcalc

i did add maybe 2 tbsp of water when i grated it 

so maybe it got softer because of that?

(well, it was heavy droplets of water hehehe) 

i made 2 balls with a roselle stuck on top.

i tore some dried roselles and mixed it in the grated soap, 

you might see some peeking out of the soap. 

i pressed some torn roselles on top and some at the bottom of the soap.

this one looks like a mud-bowl with some visible garnishes in it.. hehehe

the roselle tastes better in a glass of water with sugar, of course..

like ribena 

=)

i got this from google, a roselle flower

never heard of a roselle soap yet..

(i spoke too soon!! did a google search.. it exists!!)

perhaps get the infused roselle tea (water+roselle) 

and use that instead of plain water..

yes, i think that's how they do it...

the smell of dried roselle?

i dont think you'd be interested..

nope, not nice. 

oh! dont forget that the soap smells like 

baby-after-burp-milk + lavender EO 

and add dried roselle into it..?

not a good combination

a definite no-no.

dont ever, ever ever, try to duplicate this smell at home..

seriously, dont.

(m saying this with eyes really wide open) 

so imagine my face with eyes like that 

coz the smell is a no-no

chao chao

My 3rd Cold Processed Soap =)

Salam,

this is my 3rd CP soap.

made it on the same week as the other two, actually..

nice kan..

for the ingredients, i used same oils as the 2nd CP soap.
but this time i added turmeric powder and grounded black peppercorns
and Black Pepper EO and Orange-Sweet EO.

need to buy an EO for the base note!!

i did not take a picture of it just after i pour it into the mould!!!

rugi tau :(

i should have you know..
because now the bright colours has faded.

rugi kan :(

the pale cream section you see below was actually orange at the time of pouring

because i added turmeric powder into the mix.

it was a beautiful bright orange....

alas!

I've cut it into 4 rectangular bars..

and lastly cut into 8 bars, like the previous one..

feast your eyes with my lower-than-amateur photos..

of course i have to upload many photos..

one is just not enough!! 

 

 

do ignore the sawdust on the soap.. i was doing some woodworking after..hehe

have to practice on my swirls!!

i added freshly grounded black peppercorns

that, unfortunately, turned into those brown spots as you can see in all the photos..

 so, i have to contain myself from using fresh items in my soap or it'll end up like this again!!

tak nak ah, nanti tak chantek kan..

i was thinking that the peppercorns could be a scrubbing tool embedded in the soap

mana nak tau yang dia nak kembang lak!!

well, 2 weeks to go!!

then we'll find out if it scrubs well!!

hehehe....

chao chao!!