GREAT EXPECTATIONS : TEARS, LAUGHTER, FUN, DISASTER (hey, that rhymes!)

Alright, where do I start? Should I stick to the fun part or spill out every single nightmarish detail about Sunday’s party? I risk sounding like a bumbling nincompoop and a complete whiny ninny, and that’s how I honestly feel anyway, for even daring having these visions of grandeur, imagining that I am this mrs incredible who has unlimited super powers to execute these party plans all by myself, all knowing too well that it’s a pretty impossible feat when I have this supertot as my sidekick (and in my hair 24/7) and her supernanny wasn’t around to babysit.

But how hard is it to come up with a simple party, with simple dishes, simple cakes and simple party decorations? Well, I surely thought everything was simple before until I finally had time to spare on Friday evening to go shopping for art supplies and snacks for the party favours. I had no choice and stuck to my guns because time is tight but I have an even tighter budget, so I went ahead with the original idea to make my own packs although I have no friggin idea how to fold the art paper into a bag, blow my own balloons although it’s impossible to get a pack of balloons with ONLY the colours of the chosen theme, and prepare the birthday banner according to plan although every single store that I went to did not sell any strings or yarn.

These babies are gonna be up there until the papers rot to pieces and fall off and the balloons shrivel up like apricots

Later that night, after Nunu sleeps at last, I didn’t see the need to hit the panic button just yet, as I sat down in front of the tv and started cutting and pasting away (being a wrapping paper hoarder FINALLY paid off, hah mom?) That somehow was a therapeutic process and I calmly laid down my strategy for the next day.

In supermommy mode, I envisioned: I would finish these party packs in the morning, go to Rena’s baby’s aqiqah do at noon with Nunu (arggghh I forgot to charge my batteries, so no cute baby pictures!), race to the office to settle some office work an pick up the jellies my assistant had volunteered to make for the party, and pick up some baking supplies on our way home. And later that night, when the girl goes to bed, I can bake those cupcakes and birthday cake in two hours, tops. On Sunday morning, I’d wake up really early to get some fresh chicken, eggs, potatoes and bread to make some chicken and potato salad, boiled egg sandwiches and pasta bake. . I'm pretty sure I can pull this all off before Nunu wakes up around her usual time, which is 10-ish. Sounds like a wonderful plan, right?

The next day, I finished the party packs and all I had to do was stuff them with tidbits and tie them all up, so I thought roping in my assistant’s help at the office would be less of a headache. When I was having lunch at baby Nadine’s aqiqah, the assistant texted me that she had to be home by 1pm because she’s expecting the plumber. I thought, okay, no problem, how hard can it be to stuff things inside a paper bag anyway?

Well, pretty hard if you have a tot who wouldn’t take a nap terrorizing the office and couldn’t make up her mind which youtube videos she wanted to watch. To make matters worse, my technician took home the laptop that I planned to let Nunu use to watch the videos so that my PC would be free and I could actually do some work. So there was a whole lot of running around in the office that Saturday evening but I worked it out and managed to finish off the party packs (and yeah, Hana, that was the reason why I didn’t get the chance to give a bday shoutout to you on that day)

Close to 6, I bundled everything inside the car, the party packs, Nunu’s stuff and stroller, the jellies that my assistant promised, AND the cranky tot herself. We swung by the baking supplies shop and she terrorized that place too. She conked out as soon as she was in the car seat, poor girl, so I took a longer route home and took my own sweet time because I wanted her to be well rested, and hopefully she'd be in deep enough slumber, she won't even wake up when we reach home. Good motherly intention, right? Crappy decision, I say! We arrived close to nine, and she woke up well rested indeed and terrorized the house summore! This time, it's "Mama, kung! Takut nuu... (whining and pointing at imaginary monsters on TV)... Mama, kunggggg!!!" Like Sasha likes to say, 'belakang all senget'...

I was so pooped but the supertot wasn't and it was well beyond midnight when we finally turn in. There goes my late night baking plans.

You may guess that I have a recipe for disaster all laid out for me, because when I woke up the next day, and in a cupcake baking frenzy, the little terror decided to wake up earlier than expected, at 7.30 am! Dear lord, on a normal Sunday, she won't even open her eyes till 11 if I don't go up and wake her! Don't even ask where Martian was, because it's just the same - dia ada ke, dia takdak ke, I'm always the one responsible to babysit the girl (unless I'm in the shower or praying)

So, I didn't get to go out to do the marketing, and to my horror, I found out I was out of sugar, cocoa powder and cooking chocolate! Silly me, I've forgotten that I've used some of those to make chocolate syrup for pancakes the week before. So there goes my plan to bake a chocolate birthday cake that morning. Anxiety finally gripping my stomach, I bathed and fed Nunu, did a quick cleaning up, and planned to go out to the shop coz I still needed some yarn or strings and crepe paper for the decorations.

When Martian woke up, he said he needed to go to the shop too to get some paper cups and err.. other stuff he was responsible for (he's in charge of the main course, his famous keow tiau goreng!) When I showed him my shopping list, he made a big deal out of it and questioned my ability to 'perform' all these miracles. Well, IMHO if we worked fast, of course I can! So fine, nak mintak tolong beli ayam pun susah, I ditched the chicken and potato salad idea. I have time to prepare the pasta bake while Nunu's occupied with Astro Ceria reruns and before Martian got back from the grocery shop and took over the kitchen to prepare his keow tiau.

So I got the pasta bake sauce ready and all I had to do later was to boil the macaroni and layer it up and top the casserole with cheese and I'm done. The next thing I did was raid the stationery shop where I finally found some orange and pink crepe papers and a ball of pink yarn. There was even a small baking supply shop near my kampung which I didn't know of, so I got my chocolates there. I was tempted to buy a ready made or a cake mix to make my life simpler, god knows why I was so stubborn/gundu. Then, Nunu saw the same mr Doraemon whom she hasn't seen for ages, so I don't know how much time we spent over there.

We came back just in time for lunch, and I got started with the party decorations right away, in between feeding the psyched up tot some yoghurt and blowing balloons till my cheeks were numb. Martian was still not done in the kitchen and I had trouble putting Nunu for her nap because of the darn exciting balloons.

this is the best I can come up with

Before I knew it, it was already 3pm, and the guests were expected at 4! I had no cake, no pasta bake, a cranky tot and a cranky husband. I should have gone bloomin' bonkers by then!

I managed to park Nunu in front of the tv to watch this new show that she likes so much, and as much as I know it is impossible to bake a cake in less than an hour's time, I did it anyway. When I put the cake in the oven, Nunu too had some cakes in her diaper. So I had her scrubbed and cleaned up, and that was when the first batch of guests came! Luckily, they were just my in laws, so they all helped me finish up for the preparation.

no time to make fancy patterns, but mil said these are nice enuff, so on sajalah!

Before I knew it, other guests came pouring in, and they brought in lotsa food too! Suddenly, the dining table looked like a decent banquet (haha and all I made was 'em lousy cuppies!) So yeah, I was relieved I didn't finish making the pasta bake, or else they'd be too much leftovers and I hate to see things go to waste.

I admit I was a little sheepish when they asked about the cake. Actually, SIL bongsu volunteered to buy a cake earlier that week, but I didn't want to trouble anyone with cake, because hey, it's not often that I have a valid reason to bake a cake, so when the occasion calls for one, it's only logical that I should come up with the cake, right?

But I gave up on the cake already when I lost my focus and couldn't be bothered to see how it was in the oven. Dah tawar hati. I took it out to prevent it from burning and just left it to cool, while trying to pacify the now extra cranky Nunu, entertaining guests, and seeing things in the kitchen.

SIL came in the kitchen and asked where the nice smell came from. I showed her the sinking cake, and told her there was no way I was gonna serve that hideous thing. She took a pinch to taste the cake and said, "Tapi sedap!"

A few more people came in to help and encouraged me to 'pimp the cake' up. Haha, Mak Baik and Mak Yuh said, "Alang-alang ada cake, belasah ajer lah!" so we all had such a laugh and the kitchen was wild with commotion when there were too many hands involved in the decoration.

Mak Yuh: Nana letak butterfly kat tepi ajer tau, bukan kat tengah.

Mak Baik: Flower letak sini, flower letak sini.

Nana: Nana nak letak! Kak Anne, Nana letak sini k?

Mak Baik: No no no, tak simetri! Sini sini sini!

Me: Uik, Mak Baik, I don't know you're THAT anal.

Mak Baik: I can't help it, I'm an accountant! *buahahahahahhaha*

Nana: *proceeded to put a BLUE candy on top of the cake*

Mak Baik & Mak Yuh: NANA!!!! YOU'RE FIRED!!!

Hihihi, poor Nana, she was just trying to be helpful! So, this was the cake.


pinky, isn't this the most gempak cake you've ever seen?


well at least Nunu had a birthday cake, so there was a reason for us to sing the birthday song after all


this is how it looked like when the still-warm cake sank completely and melted off the frosting

As for the birthday girl, I had to apologize to everybody for her crankiness that day. She was practically an extra limb on me and wouldn't let anyone carry her. My arms are still sore to this day, and I swear there is an obvious bulge on my left biceps that wasn't there before. When everybody gathered to have a short du'a recitation for her, she freaked out to see so many people and demanded to stay in her room, I had no choice but to pacify her in the room.

Tok Ma and Tok Bah


Uncle Boy and Aunty Nor

As soon as the doa was over and the guests started eating, all the kids went into her play room and literally trashed that place! But thankfully, Nunu lightened up a bit and had fun 'entertaining' her guests. Unfortunately, while having too much fun, she didn't look where she was going and bonked her head on the door frame, resulting to a nasty vertical bump.

the kids - akif and yana came by later and I forgot to snap their pics

Alhamdulillah, although there was a lot of tears involved, I wouldn't trade this day for anything else in the world. Things were difficult at first, but as things revealed to me later, a lot of people who care made it much easier for me and got me thinking to not sweat over the small stuff too much.

thank you, everyone!!!

You can hardly call this a 'loot', but what's more important is the du'a that comes from the people who are close to us. And of course, Nunu won't be able to remember what happened that day, but as long as I'm still around, I sure am gonna let her know how it went.

At least, I'll make it memorable here in this blog :)

And let's see if I learn my lesson when it's time for her third birthday party :) :) :)