Of cakes, teachers and crocodiles.

Part 1

I mentioned once before in one of my earlier postings that for me to spend time with my family without the pangs of anxiety creeping in every now and then, doesn't happen very often. Most of the time, it would creep up on me, making me edgy and easily irritated and I'd usually end up being the party pooper. To keep that from happening, I would normally choose to excuse myself from whatever activity they planned to do and stayed home instead. It seems like the better option rather than spoil their fun, right?

Yesterday, however, I didn't have the luxury to hide in my comfort zone.

Humaira's school held an all-in-one fundraising event to celebrate Teacher's Day and making it a Family Day at the same time. Parents were asked to contribute food for sale, with each class year being given a particular type of food. Lucky for me, Humaira's class was asked to bring "kuih-muih kering atau basah". I decided to make congo bars.

2 pans of freshly baked congo bars.

Packing time. I reserved the unsightly, crispy edges for myself.
Wicked eh? =)

It was my first attempt making these and I promise you, they were so easy to make, yet crazy delicious!

I baked and packed these the night before the event, and sent them over to her school early in the morning, as was told. I had intended to just send the cakes in, and skip the event altogether. But luck was not on my side, I bumped into the Penolong Kanan and she asked if I could help man the stall later. Alamakk! I muttered a half-hearted "insyaAllah" and politely excused myself.

The 5-minute drive home felt like a looong one as I pondered and psyched myself up for what was to come. No running away this time... 

I reached home as the whole family was getting ready. Humaira was the most excited, and I almost felt sorry for her. I was the last to get ready, buying time, I suppose. I grabbed my camera bag and checked if everything was in order and found this...

What's become of my 77mm polarizer =(

This was still attached to my 24-70mm Nikkor lens, and I thank God for that. Or else, this would've been a full-blown photographer's nightmare! What happened was that, few days prior, the strap of my old camera bag gave way and I dropped it as I was alighting from our Naza Ria. I didn't bother to check, assuming the bag had enough cushion to protect my photography gear. How wrong was I! Thankfully though, the polarizer took the full force of the fall and I guess, saving my lens (or better yet, me) from agony. I can replace the polarizer but I doubt I can ever replace the lens. It's that once-in-a-lifetime purchase kind of thing, you know what I mean? Alhamdulillah...syukur....syukurr....

Anyway, made a quick change to a lighter lens and off we went to Humaira's school. Let me just put some pictures to show how the day went eh?

Humaira and friends. I asked her "nape Maira tak senyum?"
She said, "tu senyum la tuu..."

Sneaking on the performers "backstage".

The Gerai PIBG. My congo bars are somewhere in that
mixture of food and drinks.

We got served laksa sarawak. A very delicious laksa sarawak, I might add.

Hubby got the "Anugerah Bapa" or something like that, much to our surprise.
A token of appreciation from the school for his involvement in the welfare of
the school. I guess there wasn't much competition on the bapa side.
Women are more actively involved, so susah la sikit for me to get the "Anugerah Ibu".
Cewah! Alasaann!!

Respected teachers reciting the teachers' pledge.
May Allah reward these dedicated educators amply.

One of the contestants of Pakaian Beragam Dari Bahan Kitar Semula.

The contestants. From left, dress made of tali rafia,  dress made of garbage bags and plastic bag roses,
dress made of plastic bags and fruit wrappers, dress made from (believe it or not) umbrella!,
outfit made of garbage bags and newspaper and lastly, an Iban warrior outfit made from newspaper.
Thumbs up for these creative students and their mummies.

We left the school before the event finished as the day was getting hotter, everyone was sweaty and Muhammad was starting to show signs of an impending tantrum. Not wanting to disrupt the majlis, we decided to leave. For me, that was a good excuse to make my move too heheh...

Part 2

We got home, and I took a long nap. Firstly, because I didn't get enough sleep the night before. Secondly, I needed to sleep off the drowsiness from the anxiety meds I took the night before and thirdly, I was pretty sure the laksa sarawak had some involvement too.

Later that afternoon, I felt good enough for another outing so we decided to go to the Boat Club where the kids can have a go at the playground before we settled for an early dinner.

We saw this posted on the wall at the club. Ho-humm... nothing unusual on this part of the world. *yawn*.

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This pretty much set the topic for our dinner conversation heh!. Kids came up with all kinds of crocodile stories! I can't recall any of them but I remember laughing at the hilarity of some of the stories. Or maybe, at my inability to understand the stories. Whatever it was, it was nice to get to chat with them like that.

We left just as maghrib approached and I had to take one last shot, just for the heck of it.

At the end of the day, I was glad for 2 things.

One. That I'd had a good, full day of time spent with my family. Anxiety free, no meds necessary. That's a big thing for me, you know!

And two. The Penolong Kanan did not insist that I man the PIBG stall hehehe....

Cheers y'all!