Convenient concrete driveway

25th December 2009

Quite often during the afternoons lately, my children love to cycle around our home. It really shows that all that extra expenditure in having our driveway cemented is worth every single cent. It's also very convenient for our cars as well as guests' to be manouvered around, especially so since Brunei receives a high rainfall rate throughout the year and driving around in muddy soil is definitely not something anyone is looking forward to.

One advice for those planning on building a home, have the driveway included in the price quotation from your chosen contractor and get discounts if possible.

Solar garden lights

21st December 2009

As promised, here is a picture of our solar garden lights when it lights up at night. The brightness really depends on how much sunlight there was during each day, but we are quite satisfied with the result. After all, no hassle of connecting electrical wiring is needed for these pretty lights to function.

Hijrah breakfast

18th December 2009

Firstly, Happy Muslim New Year (1431 Hijrah) to all Muslims all around the world. May all our good deeds in the past year be rewarded by Allah and lets all try and make full use of this new year for our benefits both in this world and the Hereafter.

To mark the arrival of this blessed day, we have invited jemaah Masjid Pulaie for an early breakfast straightly after the dawn sermon (Kuliyyah Subuh). Although some of them were unable to come since they were fasting, around 20 guests showed up to fulfill our invitation.

My wife and I together with the help of my sister woke up early this morning to prepare our breakfast buffet menu; crunchy chicken in pita breads, wet noodles, kelupis with beef curry and my wife's speciality, teh tarik. It was actually the first time we invite guests over very early in the morning and it was definitely a good and memorable experience.



We also invited our neighbours the same day.

Planter box serving its purpose

8th December 2009

It's been more than 5 months now after we started moving in. All this while, my wife and I have always been glancing at our empty and abandoned planter boxes, two at the front and one at the back. Of course it was clever of our architect to have it readily constructed, but seeing it barren is definitely not something anyone would wish for.

Finally, with the help of my good friend, Sateria, from Sat & Iza Landscaping we are now proud owners of functional planter boxes. We are satisfied with what we have for now, and future plans include adding small plants to cover the soil and perhaps use some pebbles too.

In addition to the plants, we have also installed some solar-powered garden lights that we bought from Australia last year. Another advantage of having filled planter boxes. I'll post more pictures of the lights soon since the instructions needs us to charge the batteries for at least 4 nights before it can function its best.

At the same time, I also instructed the workers to move the palm trees that I have planted a year ago on the adjoining land. Hehehe... apparently after more than a year, the trees seem to not have grown that much. I guess I have been unfair leaving the trees to survive on their own without much care and attention. Now that the trees are closer to the house, we'll definitely monitor their growth more often and hopefully the trees will strive and grow better.

In the afternoons, my wife and the kids also love to do some gardening works. My in-laws were very kind to give us some potted plants (for free!) and we are slowly developing a "greener" home.