All In A Day's Work

That day a colleague asked me, "How long is your drive home?" I get asked many times, trust me. So I gave my standard pre-recorded answer, "Ohh, well... about an hour, in a good traffic I guess?". This Q&A is very common for me. People are always amazed that I commute to work from JB everyday.
But that day, I was asked this question for the first time, "Wow.... do you get to spend time with your kids?"

Hmmm... as a matter of fact, I do! Since people are wondering, this is my weekday's routine.

I wake up at 5am. I peek into my boys' room to see them sleeping like angels. So beautiful.

I drive to pick up a carpool passenger on the way, and head to the second link customs. Traffic is long for a stretch of period, dunno why. But these days, it's been pretty good.. also dunno why. It's so mysterious, you know, like a season or something.

I reach my office at 6.45am on a good traffic day. On bad traffic days, God knows. But I'm still early, at 7.30am.

Work. Then at lunchtime, my workmates and I go out for lunch. Sometimes, just at the food court at the the next building, sometimes we venture a bit further out. I get to shop for a bit for things that I can't get in Malaysia. Then back to work.

I start my journey home at about 5.30pm, sometimes earlier. I pick up my carpool passengers and head off to the Tuas checkpoint. Traffic is bearable. I drop my passengers off respectively.

I reach home at 6.30pm, on average. My boys are watching TV. I take them out to the playground near our house. We cycle there. Or sometimes, we play badminton outside our house. I just try to get them out of the house as much as possible, even for a short time. Then at 7pm, we hear the azan. The boys know it's time to go home.

At home, we chill for 5 to 10 minutes before dinner starts. I'm extremely lucky to have a helper who can cook well. So we start dinner. Sometimes, the husband is not back yet, but we eat nonetheless, because Daniel has tuition at 8pm, twice a week. I love meals together. We'd talk about anything and everything that happened that day. Like a dinner meeting. I think it's important for families to have meals together on a daily basis.

After dinner, we chill at the living room. We eat our fruits. Daniel showers and get ready for tuition, while I play with Darren. On days Daniel doesn't have tuition, we'd all just hang out together. Sometimes, we go to Giant to get our household necessities. Or run errands like change money and pay bills at the ATM. Or sometimes, I'd go to the kitchen and prepare a special dish for the next day's dinner. I'd marinade something, then write down instructions for my helper to complete the dish the next day.

I get the boys to their room to check their homeworks. Or tutor Daniel. He still need improvement in his Bahasa. He likes to fidget and get his hands busy when he studies. He is easily distracted too. I get stern a lot of times with him. Darren on the other hand, is rather focused. When he is into something, he concentrates. Sometimes he gets side-tracked too. He is disciplined in the sense that he'd be determined to finish his homework no matter how late it gets.

I get the boys to shower. I help Darren sometimes, though he can shower by himself now, but I still need to wash his buttocks to make sure it's clean. It's heartwarming to see them bath and play together. It's every mother's dream to see her children get along and love each other...uhhuh.

They get into bed by 9.30pm. I read Darren a bedtime story. I used to do this with Daniel, but now I want him to read by himself. Daniel packs his school books for the next day. I kiss them goodnight.

This is actually the reading corner in MY room. Usually, we'd read in their cozy room. 

I take a shower. I choose my attire for the next day, so that I don't spend a lot of time mulling in the morning. I check my wallet to make sure I have enough cash to pump petrol or to top-up my Touch-n-Go card.

If I'm not dead tired yet, I'd go to my craft station and inhale the air there. If I'm not inspired, I go to bed. Haha. By now it's already 10.30pm.

Rinse and repeat.