Maria is married to a man of her mother's choice, a man whom she barely knows. She ditched her Chinese East Malaysian boyfriend of over 10 years when he kept finding excuses not to marry her.
From the moment Maria told me that she was going to get married, I knew that she wouldn't work for us for long. When she told me that she's already 3 months into her pregnancy, I asked her if she'd like to take a break from working but she said no. She needs two jobs to survive in KL as her Indonesian husband who has just arrived in KL is only working as a leaves blower on the street with a measly income of RM700 a month.
Maria works as a cleaner at a nearby office building and most of her co-workers who were pregnant worked till they were 6 months into the pregnancy. She's confident that she could do it as well. In fact, during the early months of her pregnancy when she hadn't told me about it yet, I did not have the slightest inkling that she was pregnant. She was still carrying heavy buckets of water, climbing up ladder to clean fans and worked as usual, with no morning sickness or whatsoever discomfort. But she was always asking for leave. After she told me that she's pregnant, she's taking leave almost every other day with eleventh hour notice given to me.
Maria and I have discussed and agreed on a contingency plan. Should she feel that she can no longer work five times a week when the pregnancy advances, she has agreed that I get my most recent part-time maid to cover for her, until she gives birth. She plans to continue working for us after giving birth but is not sure how long she will take leave. With so much uncertainty over the future, I am only 50% confident that she will come back to work after she gives birth. Annie, our most recent part-time maid who was Maria's relief has a tendency to job-hop, though she's pretty good in her work.
There is a possibility that I may not have anymore reliable part-time maid this year. If this happens, my life will be chaotic. I won't be able to cope with making five to six chauffeuring trips on top of cooking on school days without a part-time helper.
Should the worst case scenario happen this year and I'm unable to get another reliable part-time maid who can come in the evening, I may have to alter our daily routine. Cooking can then only be done on alternate days and the remaining busier days, get takeout for dinner. Cooking will then only be restricted to REALLY SIMPLE dishes with minimal washing. On most school days, the girls do not have the time to help out in the kitchen and around the house. And my hubs works late and never helps to wash the dishes.
When Maria was on leave recently, I dished out some very simple meals that the girls loved, which I don't mind cooking on days when there is no help at home.
One pot meal of chicken stew. I added lots of carrots, tomatoes and potatoes. The girls love this dish. Even my foodie
Roast chicken breast sandwich with cheese, avocado and cucumber. Cass had a burger bun with it.
And I had mine with my favorite multi-grain cinnamon bread from Les Deux Garcons (LDG) Patisserie.
Yee Mee soup with organic seaweed, organic lettuce, organic eggs and meat balls. I made the soup with just browning some minced garlic with olive oil, add water, dried seaweed, meat balls, eggs and lastly the lettuce and organic yee mee. Seasoned with pepper and organic sea salt.
And this tasted exactly like the ones sold outside. So yummeh!
Mine is with added seaweed, vegetables, eggs and less noodles.
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