Dinara's graduation

my little girl has finally graduated kindergarten! i'm feeling anxious right about now... T_T who's the one that's entering primary next year - me or her? she doesn't seem too worried about entering a new foreign school all on her own -___-

being the busy PA secretary that i am (lol), i landed in KLIA right about noon. the pilot had to complete another two sectors, so i got my brother to pick me up at the airport and we headed straight to the venue. this year they decided to hold the graduation ceremony in the afternoon. i hope next year they'll split the event based on the children's age. we had to sit through every single class performance before the graduation ceremony actually began. not that i minded, but there was no food and drink available and kids got cranky after awhile. for that reason D3 and E1 was left behind.

at the last minute i realized that Dinara had to wear a black headscarf that day, since she was going to be a soldier for her school performance. unfortunately she doesn't own any save for pink/lightblue/yellow. she most definitely couldn't wear those colors, what kind of askar goes to war wearing pink??! hello, camouflage?

thanks Shenz from @onulaa for helping me out at the very last minute =D. despite me not knowing which hole her head was supposed to go into *laughs*, it definitely was a much neater wear than the headscarf i made her wear last year, i forgot what brand that was from.

the pilot finally made it just about the time the graduation ceremony ended. she was so excited to take photos, haha. and she waved to most of her friends walking by, most of whom i do not recognize because they didn't come to her birthday party last August. thanks Abang for helping me out today =).

Daddy's naughty big girl

happy graduation Dinara!

next year D3 goes to kindergarten. and i'm going to have a massive headache trying to organize getting three kids to school, especially with the different morning / afternoon sessions. huargh.

tlc sports day 2014

this year tlc held their Sports Day indoors, at Setia Badminton Academy. and since it was held indoors, they held the event in the afternoon instead of the usual morning.

each year they combine students from other tlc branches for the event - Damai, Kota Damansara and Ttdi Jaya. it started to rain when i arrived, so the event got delayed while waiting for other parents to arrive. the hall started to feel stuffy too.

so on Saturday we used Waze to get to the location. upon registering, they kids were given a colorful door gift each. Dayana had to wear a turtle hat for the marching ceremony, hehe. she was sorted into the Red team, Dinara was put into Yellow.

door gifts

after the march past and the kids' performances, the first event was for the 4-year olds. spot Dinara in the line-up below! muka selamba je. the kids had to run from one end to the other and carry out a small task before running back to the other side. anak orang lain kemain lagi lari, anak i pula? lenggang kangkung sambil makan angin, until one of the teachers had to drag her along, hahahah. gila tak competitive Dinara ni -___-.

minah gediks in the line-up

*shuffle shuffle shuffle*

then i waited for the 6-year olds turn. there's Dayana lining up below, with the turtle hat still on her head =P. her first event was the 3-legged race. these kids did pretty well actually, shuffling from one end to the other without falling. they also had a balloon-blowing competition, but we all know Dayana knows nuts about blowing balloons on her own haha.

i met one of my neighbours here, her granddaughter goes to the same school as Dayana too.

spot the turtle

three-legged race

this year the kids didn't go home empty-handed. they each got medals! mak pulak excited.

my medals!

the happy camper

there was also a competition held for the kids' parents, mainly the men. they had to create a three-tier human pyramid, like what cheerleaders do best. here's a photo i took from afar. our tlc branch got 4th place, bahahahah.

human pyramid

going home now. toodles!

going home!

Dinara's first day of school

it's the new year and guess who's going to school for the first time ever???
=D

cik kiah kita yang nombor 2 tu lah. kekekeke.
she wails each time we send Dayana at school for her reading class during the December holidays. each time we tell her that she'll be going to school next year. and so the 'year' has come. HOHO.

4-5 year olds start on the 7th. Dayana starts her first day the day after, mostly due to the teachers wanting to have extra hands to handle the new students who would most definitely wail their heads off, my kid included, haha.

seems like there's been an influx of students this year, compared to the previous years. a good sign perhaps?

her progress so far?
2nd day: spent the morning sitting in her sister's class *sweat*
3rd day: i couldn't get a proper word out of Dinara but according to Dayana, she stayed in her own class
4th day: class hasn't even started and she's already wailing for her sister *double sweat*

and i thought having her sister around would help with the transition T__T. at least i don't have the problem of dragging her out of bed. the problem starts when we arrive at the school gates. LOL.

second day of school

this year there are advance classes and one of the requirements is to be able to read English and BM fluently. the Daddy wants Dayana to be in that class so every night when possible, it's Peter and Jane for her. what book would be recommended for BM reading?

"Peter is here and Jane is here"

btw, Dinara hebat tau in reading. she can read with her eyes focusing on everything else in the room except for on her book T__T.

(more photos to be updated later)

btw, transportation for the kids is difficult to find. and if you do find one, they don't come cheap! maybe i'll resign and become a van driver instead. HAHAHAHAH

also, to start the new schooling year, i got the kids a couple of bag tags. saves the ugliness of having to write their name with marker directly onto their school bags. marker ink spreads on the fabric, so not nice. been thinking of asking my friend to make one for Sophia too (future planning hahaha). norl3y, i pun nak bag tag for my medela boleh? taruk nama ai. kekekekeke (i'm serious).

bag tags courtesy of Norl3y

one night before bedtime Dinara was poring over her Elmo activity book, and one activity required her to find hidden objects in the picture. she was really good at it, being able to find the objects without much help from me.

then there was this object - a red soda can - that had a total of 10 hidden in the picture. she easily pointed out one to me and proceeded to turn the page.
i stopped her and told her that she needed to find 10 soda cans in the picture. she thought for a minute, then pointed to a soda can. "one!" she counted.
and then she pointed to another soda can, and said, "TEN!"

*gelak jatuh kerusi*
#talkaboutshortcutcounting
#ineverexpectedhertosaythat

h-o-u-s-e

hi! my name is Dinara.
i like to play flashcards.
whenever Mommy asks me what this is:

i will answer
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TREEHOUSE!!!!!!!!!

mommy: T___________________________T

mugshot #2

remember this? here's another mugshot, second edition. serious this one is. don't play play.

Dinara's B-day

i had a Dr.'s appointment yesterday so i ended up wfh. Dinara's birthday fell on Monday so we could only celebrate it after work. as usual the birthday girl couldn't seem to care less. the elder one, on the other hand was really unsatisfied that we were celebrating her younger sister's birthday before hers (apa nak buat daa, 26 always comes before 31st haha).

the whole family had dinner at Serai Empire, ordering ala carte this time. i didn't know what to order so i ordered white rice + lemon chicken. Significant Other ordered the Serai Platter, which is surprisingly nice. sil ordered nasi kerabu, and bil went all western by ordering prawn aglio olio. i ordered fish and chips for the kids. those two usually have mood swings, at times they're ravenous as a horse, at others they don't care less about what food you put on the table, but they'll definitely steal a bit of your drink - Dayana's gone all 'ice lemon tea' on us. amboiii sapa ntah ajar. but we didn't order that, i ordered iced serai tea to share with instead, complete with those big mint leaves that Dayana dubbed as 'sayur'. bahahhahahah.

prawn aglio olio

serai platter

nasi kerabu

lemon chicken

the best pavlova so far

banana fritters and ice cream

i like how Serai has this small storybook section for the kids. not that they even know how to read, but they enjoyed flipping through the books all the same.

kemain lagi budak besday girl ni minum

itu Uncle Amal

Dayana and the serai 'ice lemon tea'

melantak pavlova

enjoying her kerabu

the best part about Serai was their dessert - we ordered banana fritters + ice cream and pavlova. the kids of course walloped the ice cream and left the rest for us.

oh i think you've guessed it by now - i left d3 at home. bahahahahah kesian. she'd be busy drooling all over me and screaming her head off. she's not the type to sit quietly in her stroller and amuse herself, nonono.

funny how we bumped into deensy and stiletto at Serai, haha. not that the latter recognizes me. if deens were there Significant Other would've said hi to the accomplished pilot, hee~.

as a birthday present Uncle Amal bought Dinara this funny-looking giraffe (which looks totally organic to me). Dayana? he told her to wait for her birthday this Saturday. muka memang tak puas hati. penat people try to explain to her that it's not yet her birthday no matter how much she whines. even after i told her there's gonna be fireworks on her birthday hahahaha.

after dinner we dropped by USJ for cake! Auntie Enn bought the kids a minion cake, lol. thanks Auntie! Dinara macam takut je nak blow out the candles. but she didn't hesitate when we offered her the knife to cut the cake. the outer part of the cake was quite chewy, btw. haha. sugar rush for everyone! @_@

the minion cake

blowing the candles

(pssst Auntie Enn, mana lagi gambar?)

until now we still have trouble trying to get the birthday girl to sit still and take her photo. and mau pulak dia pakai that bunga purple besar gedabak tu, accessories in her hair usually never last that long. ni mesti sebab her sister was wearing one too. made by Noreen's friend btw.

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just writing this here for future reference:

JPJ transfer of ownership (assuming that the car's roadtax is still valid):
a) 1 cancellation of roadtax letter from the seller (seller must be present)
b) 2 copies of borang xxx (buyer and seller)
c) 2 copies of borang xxx (buyer and seller)
d) verification of IC - if the buyer/seller is present, use borang xx, else use borang xx to be verified at the Commissioner of Oaths.
e) puspakom report of the said vehicle (valid for one month only)
f) car grant/road tax

if the car's roadtax has already expired, no need to do a).
buyer does not need to buy new insurance immediately. the officer there told me to wait for the transfer process to be completed before purchasing.

Dinara's 3!

this one just turned three yesterday.

i still wonder what goes on in that tiny little brain of hers.

she speaks Spanish most of the time (from watching too many clips on Youtube -_-).

i have no idea when her pronounciation will improve.

she loves fighting with her elder sister.

i am always amazed with her generous appetite =D

she's finally weaned off her pacifier.

already she wants to follow her sister to school (boring kot duduk rumah agaknya).

she efficiently asks for the iPod or iPad every morning (mami sudah sorok itu iPad tsk).

her favorite cartoons include Barbie and Poyee (Polly Pocket).

happy birthday my tanned cinapek! may you grow up to be the perfect little girl one could ever ask for =)

destructable she

i didn't think that Dinara would be the aggressive type, but somehow the term 'handle with care' doesn't seem to jive with her when it comes to her toys. take the following photo for instance. i bought these figurines for the kids since they were so into princesses. Dinara's favorite is 'Lela'. and now look what has happened to her favorite lady:

a beheaded Cinderella

i am guessing the three of them got into a catfight over some supercharming prince which resulted in the beheading of poor Cinderella T___T.
i interrogated both Snow White and Aurora, both of them denying everything. such conspiracy, even between Disney princesses.
tsk.

a month or so earlier i lined up all princesses together for a photo (you know, the ones police take when they want a victim to pick out a suspect?). guess who seemed to have lost a limb or two X___X.

spot the limbless T___T

i seriously think Aurora is the culprit because she was nowhere to be found when i took the above photo. bahahahahahah.

it ain't easy being a princess.

counting and princesses

Counting... ah ah ah (think Count Dracula from Sesame Street)

you know how when your kid doesn't want to listen to you so you give them an ultimatum and say 'i count to three, if you don't bla bla bla then bla bla bla... 1, 2, 3... ?'

kids learn fast. the other time the kids were fighting over something and i overheard Dayana tell her little sister something along the lines of, 'gimme adik! 1! 2! 3!'

T__________T

Dinara learns quite abit from Sesame Street reruns we play for her on the telly every day (she can also memorize dialogues from certain Disney movies, thanks to a gazillion times of nonstop neverending reruns which she never seems to get tired of). she's familiar with most of the nursery songs, and she knows how to count from watching Sesame Street (although i don't think she gets the actual meaning of the numbers yet).

anyway, with regards to the earlier story above, i was putting the kids to bed and we were deciding on what song to sing before saying goodnight. Dayana suggested to sing ABC, but Dinara was quick enough to interject by saying 'no! 1! 2! 3! 4! 5! 6!'

T__________T hebat ok. kalah kakak dia mengira. bwahahahahampeh.


Daddy and the Princess

one of the kids' favorite storybooks would be 'I Want to be a Princess', a hardcover book i bought for them a long time ago. being the little girls that they are, they're overly obsessed over three things: princesses, barbies, and PINK. recently Dinara has started to actually read books instead of destroying them. so that particular book, she and her sister will share and drool over all the princess pictures and go 'yada yada mommy can i be a princess?' and sometimes get me to read it to them before bedtime.

and they would fight over the princess tiara i had bought for Dayana back when Dinara didn't know the existence of princess and barbies and iPods (so now it seems i need to get stuff for them in sets of two now in order to avoid petty fights such as this since they obviously do not mesh with the word 'SHARE').

yesterday Dinara sat beside me on the bed and pointed to pictures in the book, telling me what each of them were. like 'apple', or 'shoes', or 'i-keem'.

the last page shows the Princess and her Prince Charming, with a green frog overlooking the two in the background.

'rebet', Dinara tells me, pointing to the frog. she began to start hopping up and down on the bed.

'Dayiiiii', she exclaims, referring to her Daddy while pointing to Prince Charming.

'clever girl,' i tell her. 'now who's this?' i ask, pointing to the Princess.

'pwin-Chess!' she tells me triumphantly.

ooo yeah, Daddy and the Princess. mommy mana? chis.

(for the record, kalau Mommy dress up lawa2 baru anak mengaku Mommy princess, chis).

sekian cerita anak saya di petang yang mau hujan ini.

the second child

Dinara's yes and no bunyik sama je.

no: nanak *nodding her head furiously*
yes: nanana! *while bopping her head enthusiastically*

she still doesn't pronounce Daddy correctly. she'd go 'Dayiiiiii!!!'

demands to spoon feed herself with no help. she'd pat a spot on the table where she wants you to place her plate of food, and she'll feed herself - and make a huge mess in the process T_T.

biggest stains i've had to contend with recently:
- chocolate stains
- spaghetti sauce stains!!!

tried to get her to eat topless, she got so mad and kept demanding to put her shirt back on haha.

she chooses her own outfits you know. mengamuk if you force her to wear something that she doesn't want.

pantang ajak pergi jalan, she'd be first one to head for the door, put on her shoes and say 'lesgo! go! go!'.

she's a fully certified cinapek, what with her now short hair, LOL.

the other day i only brought her to LGK because the elder has school to attend, i guess she really missed her sister because when Dayana arrived a good 5 days later, she kept going 'kakak!' and petting Dayana lol. we took a walk at this abandoned bridge the other day and she kept insisting to hold her sister's hand. 'hand! hand!' she'd go. unfortunately sometimes Dayana simply wanted to run free without having to babysit her younger sister lol.

oh the fights between them still continue, of course. that goes without saying =S

lately Dinara ni clingy semacam. is it because of baby D #3?

budak nakal

Dinara and Daddy. she chose the outfit herself

Dinara n Mommy

so much for secrets and the number two

Dayana:

bought Dayana a jacket for her the other day. told her to keep it a secret from Daddy and let's surprise him when picking him up at the airport that weekend. she readily agreed.

when Daddy called on Skype later that evening, the very first thing that came out of her mouth was, 'Daddy, Mommy beli jacket for Dayana!'

T__T

Daddy misunderstood and thought that she wanted him to get her one. so he said ok he'll get her one when he gets back.

'tapi Mommy dah beli dah la Daddy', annoyed that he didn't listen properly to what she just said.

so much for keeping it a secret, Miss Blabbermouth.

Dinara:

after recording the kids singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the iPad, i told the kids to give me the peace sign with their little hands.

'Peace!' the eldest said obediently, holding up two fingers, successfully making the peace sign.

'TWO!' the youngest yelled triumphantly, only managing to hold up her thumb and forefinger in her attempt to do the peace sign.

two? i mean seriously?? apa kaitan making the peace sign and the number two? two fingers? where did she learn that from? i didn't teach her that @_@

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i was merely resting my eyes while lying down on the bed when Dinara comes to me, slaps me on my face and proclaimed, 'wake up!'

T__T 

insistent, eh?

vicksified

Dinara was up to something last night. she's been getting good at opening screwed caps on her own, and this was her recent victim.

i didn't realize what was going on at first. heck, it was 2am ok, orang nak tdo, dia pulak nak explore bilik sorang2, main princess figurines on her own. so ok la. skali Dayana woke up and groggily started pointing to the tv area, as if she was annoyed with something. the tv was on btw. ingatkan ape la yang dia nak pagi2 buta, tunjuk lego takmo, tunjuk buku takmo, tunjuk princess crown pun takmo. nak tukar channel ke?

until i saw it.

a piece of paper stuck onto the tv screen. which looked like box tape to me, at first glance.

upon closer inspection i saw that it was just ordinary notebook paper, and that the paper was held to the screen... by VICKS.

i turned to Dinara and literally caught her red-handed, with my newly bought Vicks tub. with her hair looking all greasy. and her hands and face covered with Vicks.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHH.

dulu Dayana painted my room with my compact powder, now Dinara wants to continue the legacy by painting the room with Vicks?? did she think it was hair gel????

(last weekend, she got hold of her powder puff and started dusting the whole room white - the bed, the floors, the iPad included @_@).

it didn't help that Dayana told me her princess figurines were all smeared with Vicks too. i guess that was what made that gigantic hole in my Vicks tub - the princess were being executed. mode of choice? death by Vicks T___T Ariel the Mermaid had it the worst. the legos were not spared too. i had a heck of a time trying to wipe the tv clean and degrease the toys in the wee hours of the morning *cry*.

didn't bother getting the grease out of her hair, i simply worked a comb through it, wiped the grease from her hands and face, and forced put her to bed. she didn't seem the least bit frazzled by all of it. chis. in fact, i don't think she understands that what she did was wrong @_@. this little one makin besar makin nakal, huwarggghhh tensi mak.

no photos because it was too dark to get any, and i didn't want them to lose their sleep momentum by turning on the lights.

*mau pull my hair out*

D2 turns two

happy 2nd birthday sweetheart!

Mommy & Daddy loves You :*)
(and Kakak loves Adik too... well... most of the time haha)

sisters indeed

wordless Wednesday...
(because i don't have time to give you words)



with thanks to Auntie Noli and Auntie Nurel

finding the eye

for about 2 weeks, i had been searching high and low for the eye Dayana had purportedly lost after she removed Mr. Potato Head's body pieces one by one and deliberately threw them all around the room, but to no avail.

i kept thinking to myself that the missing piece will eventually turn up, judging from my track record of being able to find what i'm looking for - but note the word eventually, lol (i can happily search things for you, but i can't guarantee you when i would find it haha).

i gave up looking for the eye on purpose (as in don't want to waste my life after crawling on my hands and knees looking under furniture proved to be futile) because if i think i did keep looking for it, i might just burn the eye when i find it simply out of sheer irritation *kita bako!*

anyway, earlier this morning i was busy looking for the kids's Belle figurine that they had misplaced yet again (sigh, story of my life). i searched under the beds and among all their other toys, still no Belle. was just about to give up when SQUEEEEE!!! i found the eye! (i have this habit of finding things other than the one i'm looking for) hidden under our tv table amongst Significant Other's chess set, a bunch of cobwebs and coin boxes. how it ended up under there was way beyond me T___T

so... tada! Mr. Potato Head can see again!

yo. me Potato. who you?

oh back to the search for Belle. i kept pestering Dayana to help me look for it, but as usual she ignored me. although sometimes she'd help me look but i'd end up having to deal with double the mess than i began with, so fine. hmpph. the kids were cranky so i told them to round up their bottles and blankets and bam in front of the tv in our room. Dinara went to her room to get her blanket and you know what? when she came back, in her hands were her blanket, and BELLE.

apparently she found it while i couldn't. hebat. and knowing her she won't be able to tell me where she found it in the first place. hahahahah. or was she the one that purposely hid it from me? O_o

and you know what Dayana did? being dissatisfied that her sister found it and she didn't, she grabbed Belle from Dinara, left the room, and then came running back saying, 'look Mommy, i found it!!!' while brandishing the toy in my face. 'it was in the pillow, Mommy!'

T____T

adeh. the concept of finding things clearly has no impact to her. sigh.

for the kids' lunch i took Dayana downstairs to make macaroni. she enjoyed stirring the macaroni, tossing in the crabsticks and cheese into the mix. i was out of minced meat though, phooey. i didn't know how it tasted like since it was fasting month anyway, but apparently Dayana seemed to like it. she practically finished the whole thing and almost had none left over for her sister. she was soo happy she'd go, 'look, Dayana masak!' to anyone who had ears.

the happy camper. tiara tu, tak boleh blah.

maybe it's because she made it herself that added on to the yumminess of it.

or maybe she was just plain hungry, hahah.

a few quick stuff on mek Dinara:
- loves to eat on her own. and she's not yet even 2. Dayana never showed any interest to spoon feed herself until she had a competitor - her younger sister.
- i find it amusing watching Dinara watching tv. she'd go 'uh oh!' during certain parts of a movie, or 'oOooOooh!' during others. HAHAHAHA. she seems to have a slightly higher attention span than her elder sister. her current favorite movie: Despicable Me (the only movie i am able to watch over and over again thanks to those minions. have you ever watched them on youtube? so funny).
- cries her eyes out whenever i walk out the front door without her. i forgot when Dayana outgrew this phase. but at least she doesn't cry when i leave her to take a shower.
- calls me 'ma-mei'. calls her Daddy 'ma-mei' too. and i thought Daddy was easier to pronounce than Mommy? @_@
- if we give her a drumstick to munch on, and if she sees a bowl of dip in front of her, she will automatically want to dip her chicken into the bowl, then suck on the dip. ni keje Auntie Enn nih. at one point she kept dipping her chicken in chilli sauce and barely realized it was hot. hahah. hampehs.

hari2 Dayana has been asking me for a Barbie girl birthday cake. who knows anyone who can make one? we think we're gonna celebrate their birthday on a small scale this year.

on another note, i need to justify why i should keep this. i have too many purple already.

anniversary pfau

i want shoe

how was your weekend? my weekends are getting crazier and crazier... and i'm getting physically exhausted each day. thank God for the morphine in green tea, and let's hope that age hasn't caught up with me yet.

i haven't bought shoes in 2 years, did you know? the last pair i bought was my black Skechers (the one i wear practically everywhere) that i bought in Penang sometime in May 2010 back when Significant Other was studying there. i was browing through vivy's blog when i came across the photo below. and decided that despite abandoning heels so long ago, i wanted to own a pair. because they look ridiculously sexy. never mind that they tower at 5" tall. doesn't help that anything she wears will look incredibly interesting on her =P.

at the moment, i don't know whether i should laugh or cry that they don't have it in my size. but i'm secretly hoping that they do have a pair in my size hidden somewhere in the deepest corner of their stock room. shhhhh.

screen shot

on Saturday,i took the kids out to Amcorp Mall to see my friend's mom. wanted to make matching baju kurung for them this year and i needed to ensure their measurements were correct. word of advice: never serve two opinionated kids milo dinosaur, especially when you are lacking of extra hands. huhu. on the way back, Dinara spotted Ronald McDonald, so we stopped to take a long-lost family photo.

say cheese~!

and since i promised Dayana, i brought the kids to the playground in S7. oh they had so much fun going up and down the slide repeatedly. since it was already late, the playground wasn't so congested, i really don't like it when the elder kids get all raunchy and conquer the playground.

Dayana insisted i take this photo

another word of advice for me: it is futile to attempt to finish your prayers with these little sugar-high rascals jumping all over the prayer mat, thinking that it's funny to be draped in a long white piece of cloth T_T. how the heck do you guys khusyuk with the kiddos around? i ended up storming into the other room to finish my prayer. itu pun diorang diam2 sneaked into the room via the connecting bathroom. grrr.

ok please ignore the kain that Dinara was wearing. the telekung Dayana was wearing was donated by Auntie Norley and since i didn't have a pair for Dinara, i used the bottom half of the telekung and simply sarung it over her head. chomel kan? AHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA

budak-budak inesen konon

Dinara sudah pandai mintak susu on her own. when she wants it she'll go 'nak shu shu~' in this wispy voice of hers. suara style kesian pun ada. haha. then bile dah habis she'll hand you the bottle. she'll persistently go, 'nah! nah! NAHHHH!' and won't stop until you take the bottle out of her hands.

Dayana pulak, will go, 'Dayana nak two je, Dayana taknak three, TWO je'. three, two, refers to the number of bottle refills. hogwash! 3/4 of the time she would berjaya kelentong me. haih. maybe i should teach her how to bancuh her own susu next time. what say you? =P~