i’m back blogging!
on the first day of the new year, 2012 the year of the dragon, yes!!
that should be a very good sign that things this year in blogosphere will be ‘activated’, alhamdulillah..

bismillahirrahmanirrahim..

my youngest child has been showing great interest in the little details of the things around him eversince a toddler.. these are his very own artworks using his newly-bought magnetic toys..

i love gardening and i love eating raw vegetables (ulam), hence, been planting & growing some local ulams near my kitchens for daily and occasional consumption… the idea of having easy and immediate access to such freshly-picked home-grown ulams whilst cooking & preparing meals had been in my head since small, and i remember trying (unsuccessfully!!) to grow watermelons in my parents 10×10feet porch-garden, mmm…

ok, ok, watermelons are not really considered an ulam, yes?? but still, this ‘edible-garden’ interest has been long nurtured, and now happily & passionately shared with my sparring-partner-in-life..

some of the ulams that have been thriving in our edible-garden are these kacang panjang, which have been fruiting well recently, without much fuss, interruptions and infections from the snails, insects, butterflies, giant-red-ants and the rest of my ‘fellow’ ulam-lovers.. and just yesterday, we managed to pick 2 handfuls of them to last us a week!! simple pleasures like these can promote healthy aging, eh..??

but aside from giving me simple-pleasures, do they really have any health-benefits?? i googled ‘khasiat kacang panjang’ yesterday, and these benefits were mentioned & listed:

1. reduces diabetic, hypertension & hypoglycemia conditions..
2. reduces fat in blood, cholesterol..
3. cleanses/enhances liver & pancreas functions..
4. increases bowel movements..
5. increases red-blood cells..
6. and some other benefits which were beyond my simple-comprehension and brief-googling..

but as always, any good things taken excessively must have some not-so-good-benefits in return, huh??

this grapevine-plans of ours were mooted eversince we had some extra spaces to play around with, and our first set of grape-trees were planted along the side garden in-between our 2 side-verandahs approximately 3-years ago.. a total length of 12-feet steel climber-fence was purposely/vertically put-up to cater to the growth of our grape trees, not knowing that once the grape-shoots climbed up to the top of the fence, they’d hover on and grow around the top of the fence only, leaving the rest of the vertical-fence bare..

hence our vertical climber design was proven not to be perfectly suitable for grape-vines afterall, but we tried to make the best of the situation by constantly and manually guiding downwards the growth/movements of new shoots.. the colours and shapes of the grape-leaves were appealing to our eyes and the fact that the trees would start fruiting whenever we talked about getting rid of them, have made us decide to just let them be where they are and let them continue being a part of our garden-scapes..

on the upside of things, the sour grapes (above-photos) that they’d kept bearing over the past one year could actually make excellent substitutes for ‘belimbing besi’ in my cooking and ‘masak lemak kuning’ dishes, eh..?? mmm..

so 3-years passed by, and our grape-vines are still not some nice-looking vines at all.. ;(

so 3-years passed by, and another grapevine-idea was mooted a few months ago.. ahh yes, why not try again and grow another set of grape-trees on the rooftop garden instead..?? and this time around, instead of vertical climber-fencing, we should build horizontal flat-climbers all around the toproof gazebo, so that the grapevines would grow all around the gazebo-roof horizontally, looking like extensions of the roof..?? and when they’d start fruiting, the grapes would be dangling down for easy pickings as we passed by under the climbers to sit underneath the gazebo..?? mmm, that sounds really really nice…

so another set of steel-structures were commissioned and constructed within the next few weeks.. flat horizontal steel-climbers on 3-sides of our toproof gazebo would be strong enough to hold another set of grape-trees for many many years to come.. and we envisioned how beautiful the gazebo would look like with grape-shoots, vines and fruits growing wild, branching out and dangling down.. and we can grow, pick and eat our own fresh homegrown grapes!! heavenly eh..??

but how do we get grapes that would taste sweet?? do we just buy seedlings/trees from any garden-nurseries around town?? what type of soils should we use?? any special fertilisers needed?? what type of weather conditions should we observe..?? this is our second grapevine-attempt, therefore we must strive to be more prepared and informed, to get better and sweeter results..

so we asked around among friends, relatives and strangers.. and eventually the trees that i got over the weekend were courtesy of our weekend pasar-tani-trader abang-musa hailing all the way from perlis.. who bought them from some handicapped grape grower residing in grape-growing-state-of-perlis..

our current grape-journey in photos soon, in next posting..

i’ve been spending a lot more time on the net the past few years, instead of running/driving around meeting staff, suppliers, customers ie. looking harrassed and busy all the time!! i’ve wanted to simplify my life and business operations, and i thought putting everything online should solve my problems.. haha, please bear in mind that i really thought online operations were pieces of cakes.. all kacang one..

yeah, yeah, yeah.. i’ve tasted and still getting some pieces of the online cakes.. and they’re really yummy and delicious and beyond my expectations.. and they really have made me say ‘wow, this is great, simply wonderful!!’..

having an internet-presence since september 2004 have given my ceramic design & manufacturing business a boost and exposure to more and different customers, and infact my first customer that i got via the website gave me a total value of project that covered my monthly overheads for the next 2-years after we completed and delivered.. very nice, huh..?? and i didn’t even have to meet them in person and do any further marketing and promotions because everything was laid bare on the net for them to see, view, judge and decide.. simply wonderful, huh..??

therefore i don’t need plenty of projects in one year to sustain this accidental business.. 2 or 3 are already sufficient to keep my production team occupied.. and me, happy and contented not having to rush here & there and chase plenty of people all the time.. yes, i’ve wanted to reduce my stress, and the headaches and body aches that came with it.. yes, i’ve wanted only some small pieces of the online cakes and EAT them too..

therefore my simplification attempts have worked very well, right..?? but, but.. i still have stocks lying around.. old design collections, production over-runs, wrongly-specified items, product samples, etc.. the main reasons for the need to have my online shops which are still ding-dong-ding-donging in their completion the past one year or so, and which i’d not elaborate further here..

my simplification attempts have worked very well not only in reducing my stress-levels, but it has also meant that my kids now are always seeing me at home as though i no longer have a business to run, haha.. they must be thinking in their little heads that running your own business is really a blast, just look at mama..

sometime last year, my eldest asked me this question: do you still have your business?? i was quiet for awhile and then smiled to her & myself.. and that was how i started labelling some of my blog-posts under ‘to my children’ category.. sort of to teach them that everything was not beds of roses all the time the past 16-years in business, and to have come to this stage where i don’t look like really working anymore, have actually required some

i also have some ulterior motives in coming up with this blog-label.. to let my 2-girls know what else i’m trying and struggling to do online, so that they could see for themselves in what way they could contribute in the future.. it never crossed my mind to have my ceramic design & manufacturing business to be handed down to my children, no no no, but i hope they’d learn something good from watching first-hand how their mother (try to) manage her life, family and household by pursuing her dream and business from the comforts of home..

i wish for them to have greater options and easier access to the ways they could reach their future goals and desires.. i could see their individual and different characters developing now and i’d like to show them just how they can capitalise on their strengths and improve on their weaknesses, starting from a much earlier age, from the very comforts of their home.. plenty of things can be done and earned from the net, ah yes, our children are just so lucky to be part of this web-generation..

so ika and mel will be mama’s online partners soon, okay…?? abah has just provided both of you the

explore all the possibilities and good luck in finding your niche in life..