It was not me obsessed with the machine but the man, he even called a friend of his working at Nestle asking him for a free one! Friend was shocked and that’s the suitable word to use for his blunt request and he wouldn’t sleep on the subject even as we passed by its stand at Sultan Center and my good self trying to get the idea of having another coffee machine in the kitchen out of his mind… all failed! He walks in with grocery bags one day and suddenly pops a box with a “Tadaaaaa” note! And it now stands proud next to the [ Nespresso ] machine :/

I think the one we have is called Genio, slim, shiny, futuristic and he chose Red to match other appliances in my kitchen as well as the Nespresso Machine. Upon reading the manual I was totally confused since making your drink requires measuring liquid (Water) and thankfully I have measuring cups. I think on the long run, one has to figure that on his – her own for each drink has 2 capsules (Cappuccino or Chococino) and to make cold drinks you have to add ice and when I attempted to make iced cappuccino it turned out miserable

I like the fact that it looks like a penguin!

The set of machines – capsules for both as well

The manual

First drink, Chococino ! I didn’t taste that but man said it was “thin” needs less water although I used the measuring cup

I like the froth though

And that’s the cappuccino, ruined iced one that it!

1. Box containing capsules should include more. Nespresso has this big box with around 250 capsules I think for a decent price. I don’t have to go out of stock & rush to buy them. I don’t know how much are the capsules but package should be affordable I guess.

2. Why have specific liquid measurement! Can’t it do the “calculation” on its own?or the indicators on the machine available for that reason?!

3. They should sell mugs of suitable sizes, I couldn’t use just any glass for the iced cappuccino!

4. I could use the Nespresso machine with a shaker to create a wonderful iced mocha or buy their accessories available at their boutique. What’s new about this machine? One could rent the Nestle drinks machine for free opposite to paying for the drinks on monthly basis, dunno if that applies to individuals.

Bottom line, I don’t like it.. bas!

I usually start changing her wardrobe and buy ahead, onesies, Pjs, jeggings, pants, head accessories, dresses.. you name it! I store them in her closet which is about to burst, again till she has her room room – but I seriously can’t restrain myself from buying her outfits! Lord, the shoes! She has so many! Not to mentioned what we have stashed up from her old stuff. I will giveaway what we don’t need and in condition & the rest are for memory.

En sha2 allah, I will not allow anyone to stop me from getting my girl butt naked in fear of heat! My mom wouldn’t let me dress her in sleeveless items cuz she’s “too young” but no sir! Not this time! I bought this Guess dress yesterday and she’ll fit them fine in June or May around her birthday <3

I was dying to buy her a 2 piece swimsuit and man told me that he wants to pick one for her so he got her Speedos! :) o one piece! We want to see flesh baba! They’re so adorable & I love the colors but I saw a Hello Kitty 2 bikini over  at H&M and am getting them real soon too ;p come on baba! 2 are never enough!

Waaaay too conservative B! :F

Baby shopping is agonizing! Everything I see is nice and is a “must” get piece :( I usually get her onesies from [ Next ], great value, greater quality! [ H&M ] has cute stuff. [ Bluezoo ]is cute as well and my favorite’s [ Mothercare ]. [ One Moment's ] ok when they’re on sale for the big brands but Juicy Couture is adorable! <3 She has a training suit and it’s CUTE! which will also fit just fine in by May enshallah. Other than those, day to day pjs I get from Max or CenterPoint as well as the undergarments, you see with the washing one has to buy good quality… Babies don’t come  cheap man! Allah ye7meha o we can give her our all & the best.

Just a random picture… I changed her earrings last night and I like those better!

I scanned [ Baby Center ] and that’s been really helpful with tuoturials and shared experiences with the rest of the enrolled mommies around the world. I also went through [ Wholesome Baby Food ] for more recipes and what to avoid for certain age groups and whatnot.. really helpful! I am also following Jumana Al-Awadhi owner of [ We Love Kuwait ] on her quest to feed her own children organic food, healthier twist on what’s in market today and she’s doing great! Subscribe to her YouTube channel [ HERE ] for more on that.

Another great option vs. online researching was Jareer Bookstore; They have a good selection of baby food recipes and I went ahead long before she started eating and got me this book in the pic below “Cooking for Babies”. It covers ages from early as 6 till after 12 months.

It provides parents with useful guides on food items to give & avoid to the child, tips on potential hazards, clear picture illustrations that guide moms step by step to prepare the recipe, QTY and storing options.recipes include meat, chicken, fish, veggies of course as well as baked items like cupcakes, puddings, custard & cheese fingers which is next on my list to introduce to her!

I was surprised she liked baby Dhal with the spices in it!

Baby dhal aftermath lol!

Till now, the recipes I’ve tried she liked very much and I am quite content with the portions she’s taking and enshallah she continues like this… of course my parents are spoiling her with all the bafak – baked cheese puffs and chocolate they treat her with but we make sure she takes in flavored yogurt as well and natural juices.

What do you feed your baby?

I scanned Google images for ideas on a Pink & Green baby nursery yet I didn’t find that “IT” room but got inspired by some nice ideas & designs… Might as well head to IKEA when the time is right & buy the whole room as is!

let me show you what I like:

I love this color combo yet not White furniture

Beautiful prints!

This is her crib’s color & I think not having carpets is the best option- I hate carpet!

I love the flowers mounted on the wall!

Mother of all cuteness! I wonder if I’ll find similar wall stickers here!

This is simply gorgeous! and no, I am not referring to the lady in the photo!

I like the design but the colors are too dull for a baby room

I saw those leaves at IKEA, the room I’m obsessing over with cute Pink ladybug lights mounted on the wall, a jungle fit for a little monkey <3

It’s too much to think of, you’ve got flooring, wall decor, lighting, toys, furniture color, bedding, TV set :p baby proofing.. etc.. what worries me most is the damage I’d do to my wallet, or to the man’s to be completely honest :F

This hash-tag [ #stopkony ] has been spreading like fire on Twitter along with the [ Invisible Children's ] campaign to shed light on the atrocious Joseph Kony’sconduct with his own fellow citizens with their amazing video Kony 2012.

Who’s Joesph Kony:

Joseph Kony is the world’s worst war criminal. In 1987 he took over leadership of an existing rebel group and renamed it the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA has earned a reputation for its cruel and brutal tactics. When Joseph Kony found himself running out of fighters, he started abducting children to be soldiers in his army or “wives” for his officers. The LRA is encouraged to rape, mutilate, and kill civilians–often with blunt weapons. The LRA is no longer active in northern Uganda (where it originated) but it continues its campaign of violence in Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and South Sudan. In its 26-year history, the LRA has abducted more than 30,000 children and displaced at least 2.1 million people.

Invisible Children has been working for 9 years to end Africa’s longest-running armed conflict. U.S. military advisers are currently deployed in Central Africa on a “time-limited” mission to stop Kony and disarm the LRA. If Kony isn’t captured this year, the window will be gone.

They produced this movie [ WATCH HERE ] KONY 2012; A film and campaign that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for

Visit this site for more info & to spread the word  * www.kony2012.com *

- Sleep deprivation: Which has never been an issue to me, often have I ranted about insomnia but this takes it up a notch! Babies have intervals messing mommies day and nobody wants a cranky mommy I tell you!

- Visits and going out: I thought with DearNanny at hand, my schedule would improve thus have more time to play lil’ miss social wife or enjoy some “me time” but noo hoo! Although I love going out yet I sit down beating myself with guilt knowing that she’s waiting for me and it gets worse since she’s 100% capable of expressing her feelings as well as recognizes the lack of my presence.

- Shopping: My worst nightmare! With the weight I’ve put on and sadly couldn’t shed off add to that if she’s around I can’t take my time anymore so I window shop then try to find an excuse to hit the malls alone.

- Ear infections: Mother F*er! She turned into a mini monster! Forget about runny nose and coughs, I’ve never seen a baby in such pain and that’s a “minor” one! :(

- Baby meds and antibiotics: Again, you moFos! When you decide to make baby medication, sort out an easier way to give the same to babies! I use a syringe & literally pump it down her throat while she shrieks, kicks, spits desperately & it’s heartbreaking

- Baby food: It has to be fresh & full of nutrients so I cook a batch of veggies and add in chicken or meat and depending on her mood she’ll consume OR NOT!

- Baby tantrums: I’ve watched TV shows with nasty kids and I’ve thought “If I were mom, I’d lock that child up to cry to sleep” but things don’t work out that way, saldy.. she throws those anger fits and cries mostly when I don’t pay her attention or get busy around the place as well as outside the house and am clueless to how to get her back in shape.. SOS!!

- Baby wardrobe: Everything Pink is adorable! I feel like buying the entire world for her but am burning my pocket. As far as I could remember, I’ve wished to have my own barbie to dress up but this Mattel doll doesn’t come cheap. I love shopping for her though <3 and they grow too fast mashallah!

- Monkey business: She wants to walk.. naturally impossible at this stage yet she hangs on to stuff or climbs all over her dad & I, she even likes to use the walker by pushing it but then comes along bruising. I fear accidents and she’s so White it easily shows. She’s hyperactive as well so it takes 3 adults sometimes more to watch out over her.

- Discipline: No matter what tone we use to indicate our discontent towards a certain action, she simply ignores! Any ideas moms?!

- Say mama: All I hear is “Did” “Didi” “Ba babaaa” & “la2″! :@ dana ommek ya bet!

- Eating plastic: Remote controls are her favorite right now, everything else falls behind still in the mouth! what the hell!! Oh, she’s infatuated with mobiles as well and not just any mobile, the iPhone pls!

- Baby proofing: Although I tried my bestest best, I think I’m gonna have to keep everything boxed sooner or later or on high shelves *cries* !

- Games: I wish I could get up from bed and take a photo of the rechargeable cards we have for those arcades-games centers just to take her for half an hour, put her in something to make her dizzy to sleep ;p

After reading all of the above, kindly note that nothing compares to the puppy eyes she gives me or a hug when she’s crying 7abebti <3 I sincerely pray for all expecting mommies a safe delivery and for those waiting for this blessing to happen very soon.

AMEN

Oh, I forgot to add that I hate clipping her nails!

I cannot even attempt to imagine how his poor parents are coping with dilemma, allah ye9abberhom o yeshfee Fahad enshallah  and that would be through help we could all assist in bringing together for the sake of this child and the over priced transplant he urgently requires. God, money IS such an issue ha?!la 7awla wala qowwata ella bellah

[ Danderma ] emailed us for this and attached Fahad’s photo as we as a copy of his medical reports. You know how influential you guys can be by just spreading the word on his case here – elsewhere hoping for a miracle to happen…

Danderma’s email:

Remember last time when we tried to help the cancer patient Abdul Kareem and we made quite a buzz he actually got several sponsors. Having a sponsor is their last hope, check out this adorable little baby esh7elwah o his chin killa sa3abeel. His mother is a Kuwaiti and his father is a Syrian. He has lukemia,and needs bone marrow transplant to live but non of his family members are matches to donate to him so they found him a donor in India but they need a sponsor to donate 37 thousand KDs so he can have it.

تذكرون حالة عبد الكريم؟ من خلال نداء اطلقناه من مدوناتنا قدرنا نوصل حالة عبد الكريم للأيدي الكريمة اللي ما قصرت و تكفلت بالمبلغ اللازم لعلاجه. التفاعل مع حالة عبد الكريم كان كبير جدا و عدد كبير من الناس عرضوا يتكفلون بعلاجه عشان ينقذونه.

لكن للأسف مرض السرطان مرض قاس و ما يحرم و لا يوقف. في كل يوم حالات أصابات جديدة لكن مو في كل يوم المريض يقدر يوفر العلاج. حالة من هذه الحالات إهي حالة الرضيع فهد المولود لأم كويتية و أب سوري الجنسية. فهد مصاب بسرطان الدم (اللوكيميا) و يحتاج لعملية زرع نخاع عظم لكن للأسف لم بجدوا أي نخاع عظم مطابق من أفراد عائلته فبالتالي يحتاج إلى متبرع بالإضافة إلى عملية زراعة نخاع.

المتبرع و العملية متوافران في الهند. و لكن المبلغ غير متوفر و هو ما يقارب ال 37  ألف دينار كويتي.

في حالة عبد الكريم كان الرجاء هو منحه الأمل بإنقاذ حياته و ساقه. أما في حالة الرضيع فهد فالرجاء في منحه الفرصة ليعيش الحياة! ليكبر و يدخل المدرسة و يلعب و يفرح و يعمل و يتزوج و يموت رجلا كهلا محاطا بأبنائه و أحفاده.

For more information, contact me for the medical report – Danderma through her blog or  Q8Rain@gmail.com – Twitter: @Q8Rain

I’ve been at Zajil Telecom since 2002, had my ups and lots of downs and regardless to how I honestly feel about the place and some of those who work here; I managed to create my own connections with decent human beings. Now we all argue every now and then – It’s human nature not to agree but  respect remains so when I heard of the news on Saturday I prayed for the man and no body knows this till now – I dreamt of him dead! I mean he’s old (60+) and he used to work his ass off for the company (Or that’s what I witnessed at least) so no one had high hopes on his survival after that stroke he had during the weekend and although we should have faith in Allah for he mapped our lives ahead but subhan Allah, it was time for Abu Juma’a to finally rest in peace..

Abu Juma3a – Hajji, used to drive me insane asking for gift items and during events for more coupons or giveaway and I used to always contain myself responding to him because he was an elderly but last Thursday we exchanged “HIs” and he asked about my daughter so when I came to know of his death over dinner, I got too emotional… The idea of losing a person is a blink of an eye scares me to hell! I never openly discussed this with anyone but I sometimes can’t sleep at night praying for Allah to extend the lives of my loved ones and protect them from harm.. I start thinking of different scenarios of what will happen if I lose x or y and I almost end up with one scene: Me dying from a heart attack caused by grief over that person… Ok, this is too depressing from early morning.

“يا أيتها النفس المطمئنة ارجعي إلى ربك راضية مرضية فادخلي في عبادي وادخلي جنتي”

Allah yer7amak bas he used to wear that White dishdasha Winter – Summer! <– Me trying to make this easy :/

of course I think the people who work with him – his department would be devastated and I don’t want to even go there today but his Manager emailed us the following:

(Born – 1945  Died 30^th January 2012)

Please accept our sincere condolences for the sudden loss of our dear colleague Mr. Mohammed Juma Hareeb Yesterday  30^th January 2012.  We can only imagine what a shock it must be to his Zajil extended family. Indeed, it was only Last Thursday that Abu Juma and our colleague shared a humorous time prayed Asar Prayer with him.

Abu Juma  Joined Zajil family on 27-Nov-1991 and I go back more than 20 years as very dedicated and hardworking colleague.  Not only was he a great person,  he was also an excellent co-worker with whom I spent many memorable days at Zajil over the years. He had an amazing sense of humor and was a gifted True & honest Muslim. In business dealings Abu Juma was always straight forward and honest. In short, Our brother Abu Juma was an exceptional friend and colleague who will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

We collectively mourn our Be-loved Marhoom Mohammed Jumma Harib’s loss

You see, he’s not the first at this place to suffer from medical issues and as much as I would like to elaborate, I shall keep quiet out of respect to good individuals working there and in the end I say: I have much more to do in life than lose my mind or sacrifice my health for lame pathetic reasons.  (PERIOD)

May you rest in peace Abo Jum3a..

I celebrated my birthday on January – Friday 13th! and although the majority tend to be superstitious about that freaky date, mine was relaxing, full of love and wonderful! Clueless as I was to the surprise in the making, I helped my family a lot by providing them time for the cake to arrive as well as dinner so I went home to check if Dear Nanny had things done then left to my parents house… What no one knows except Julie ;p - LOL – is that playing on Instagram at my place, I managed to take a shot of this bug on our window

After that I was checking the Feed and spotted my name on a cake !

HAHAHAHAHA- Sorry Julz but that was sincerely funny!

So I kept quiet, played dumb and watched them buzz around the house trying to keep things ready and my husband was asking: “what do you wanna do tomorrow on your b-day?” or “I’ve got the feeling that I’m gonna mess my diet tonight” LOL !

I excused myself to go pray – more time for them to set the cake down and gather waiting for me ;p and it happened! All the clapping and singing! God, I am anti birthday celebrations :/ I’d consider every day my birthday if I’d receive gifts! >:)but what was really cool is having my Birthday cake done by Julie of [ A Little Sugar ] ! I’ve always wondered what they’d create – design for me and it came out beautiful as all her work.

A cute fully decorated cupcake on top of a Pink cake! So I’m full of sugar it seems ;)

Another view of “Me”

I love the details – which are all edible btw – on the cake!

That’s the top of the cupcake lady on top of the cake base – how cute! All is fondant covered and everything again I say is edible!

The saddest part was having to cut through the cake so we removed Mrs. Cupcake and dug in the cake base

Dear lord, if i hadn’t enough self control that things would have been eaten up by me! I took a thin slice of this chocolaty, yummy YUMMY goodness! OMG! The thing about Julie is she understands what her clients want and my husband told me he didn’t request a specific flavor but she know what I like :) chocolataaaaa <3

And because we got too curious on what was filled in cupcake lady, we cut through it to find a White cake with cream and cherries I assume! Equally delicious and fattening!

I was so happy to see the family gathered around the table, specially with Alma clapping (she does :) ) and smiling, my first birthday with her and enshallah many more to come. I was so happy that Mrs Julie managed to squeeze my cake on her already fully booked schedule because she’s always booked in advance mashallah!

I am happy that i got gifts: a Michael Kors watch, a Green ensemble which makes me look like a tree and I tweeted it and got hugged for it ;p

and my husband got me an Aigner watch! <3 My family knows – can understand my obsession to that brand! I have several watches of different colors to match any color I wear and the latest is a Black – Silver one with Pearl dial off the latest collection At Geneve Novelties..

The full “A” – Love the color BTW! Need Red ;p E7emmm

Thanks to those who made this memorable, thanks to Julie for the cake, thanks to those who sent in their b-day greetings and thanks Man for the gift and Alma :*

Previous posts on A Little Sugar read [ HERE ], [HERE ] & [ HERE ] or you could follow her on Twitter @A_LittleSugar & her FB group link’s mentioned in the beginning of this post.

Kan youm aswad o man7oos, the day we decided to “go on a date” as Dear Nanny called it – thinking of it now I think she might have been the one to jinx the whole setting!

You see, Since Pregnancy and needless to say akeed, every since delivery I have not been to the movie theater because of my sacrifice (LOL) and having no time for me and honestly speaking, we didn’t like what was showing so we opted to wait for [ Sherlock Holmes ] specially after the 1st part and I still remember how excited we were even after leaving the cinema. Since CinescapeQ8 have a Twitter account [ HERE ], I though I would ask because I was confused about the booking date. We wanted to go on a Friday and our booking was after 12 Am. They didn’t reply…

I dress up, take kid over to grandparents and ensure all house chores are done. At 11 PM, man & I head to the Avenue – I originally wanted to go to 360 but I swear to God I stayed on their stupid iPhone application more than 2 hours trying to book and it kept giving me an error message and I am stupid I didn’t snap that to keep as evidence! Even booking online was equally disgusting! 1. Couldn’t access my account!!! 2. Didn’t show vacant seats! So we ended up going to Mohallab to use the kiosk machine – ALSO SPENT LIKE 15 MINUTES because it just kept logging off! Let me stay on track here:

Again, 11 PM we head to the Avenue in spite the fact that we were an hour early but we wanted to avoid traffic, lines at their snacks bar  and most importantly be there first to watch the ads. After we bought everything I wanted to use the toilet before entering the movie and that security guy (Who happens to be Egyptian) advised us to wait… OK I WILL HOLD IT! After like half an hour I tell da man I need to go! I head towards the same guy and I go like: “3am, I really need to use the bathroom!” <– He looks at me, lets me in! ALTHOUGGGGGH we are god damn entitled to stay in the lobby – area if he takes the tickets! WTH! We pay so much for a censored movie and over priced snacks and we don’t get to use the lu! El mohem, I returned to the man and we saw the que forming to enter the movie so we stood. We are now like 5 seconds away for being allowed to go in the area in front of the movie hall and the man (The Egyptian dude) looks at the ticket and goes like: “El film etlaga” <– movie was canceled!! 55555 freaking minutes before it starts! So I looked at him and went like: “You knew it was canceled, why didn’t you inform us!” because it doesn’t make since that he was just informed, we didn’t see anyone coming out of the hall and the whole thing was full of contradictions! Man got pissed off and they were gonna fist fight :/ but people managed to pull them off. As advised by one of their security I dunno dudes in dishdasha, we head to client service guys and people were enraged! Everybody wanted to exchange or redeem money as the guy told us but since we don’t get to go out alone that much we decided to watch anything… Adam Sandler’s movie Jack & Jill: a complete waste of time, money and mental stability! yukh!

2 guys were covering the angry crowd and they had such an attitude man, only thing left for them to do is start swearing at people or beat them up! They were very rude especially the dark one! la2222 not that only! He shouted at a customer in front of us and as I asked him if he needed money from us he misheard me and told the other guy: “Ge6lehom flooshom” ! <– Throw their money at’em ! MF ! …… 3aleik bas it is our fault that we are decent with you! #Etfouh !

1. We came to know movie was canceled 15 minutes earlier and we were not informed.

2. Dishdasha guy said that KNCC sent emails apologizing for the inconvenience and informing people about the cancellation which never happened.

3. Dishdasha dude said if you don’t use the tickets today, you can some other time as other theaters were informed and I think that’s one big fat lie since no one notified us online

4. Again I asked the Twitter person and there was NOTHING, NO REPLY and after some time they decided to tweet on what happened! maskhara! That person even is not into what’s happening. Only thing that person does is Retweet and announce movies release!

Toz! I am not going to go to watch a movie there again (and that’s for now who knows what will they be showing in the future) ! but what reallllllly pisses me off is their tweep – the dude handling their account either has ordered not to reply to inquiries which is stupid because you’re misusing your social media medium or doesn’t understand English… some have suggested that it’s a Robot! lol sending automated tweets but no, they retweet good feedback and neglect – block – delete the actual ones which could help them fix their services – shame, you cant take criticism!

On a more desperate and very angry note, I decided to call & file a complaint against that person’s neglect to tweets and the reply – attitude I got was really bad, as if they don’t give a shit about what people have to say.

As Kuwaiti’s say: “Elsharha mo 3aleikom” – “Shame on us – it’s our fault” for wasting money on your tickets, crappy smelly halls and overly priced popcorn which got me poisoned the next day making spend new year’s eve at Dar El Shifa hooked to an IV drip!