Happy Birthday to Me 2025

We went to my bro’s place for dinner 2 weekends ago. It was sort of a belated birthday dinner for my SIL. In the end, we ended up exchanging birthday present. Haha. Not only were there good home cooked food, there was birthday cake too. I tell you, Daddy Lim and I are so deprived of home cooked food. 

Zaky goes regularly to my brother’s house for dinner, a good habit that he has picked up when Ah Yee and Athena were here. Popo always welcome him with open arms and special menus. Nana popped by occasionally bcos she is so busy. 

Happy birthday to me. The cake is so pretty.

Happy to me again today. I have turned 46. I forgot how old I am since I turned 25. Hoho. It does scared me a little that 50 YO is just around the corner. While they say that age is just a number, the failing eyes, extra wrinkles, greying hair, etc., don’t fail to remind me that it is a big number. Haha.

Bcos I didn’t like going to the office on my birthday, I took leave and decided that Daddy Lim and I will go JB. We did that last year too. We were intending to drive in bcos it is a workday and we think the traffic would be smooth. Then, the car was sent for the 60k servicing the day before and we were told that it would take 2 days to complete the servicing. Fortunately, we could still get train tickets at good timing. The kids had to go to school on their own in the morning though. 

We took a bus to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint. I didn’t realise that we have a straight bus from Junction 10. It had been years since Daddy Lim took a bus. He had to take a MRT yday to come home after dropping the car and had to google on how to pay for the MRT fare using credit card. 

We left the house at about 7am and arrived at the train checkpoint at about 7.45am. I was surprised to already see a long Q, thinking that we were early. Shortly after, the gates were opened. Everything went smoothly thereafter and we were in the train. 

The malls open only at 10am, so we headed to across the street for bfast. We went to the restaurant that the aunties brought me the last JB trip. 

It is such a pity that there were only the 2 of us and we didn’t have the stomach to order more. There was the camera shy nasi lemak too.

I found the food ok only. Daddy Lim was a lot more impressed, maybe bcos he was hungrier. He was also very impressed with the deco.

With bfast done and the tummies happy, we took a grab to Paradigm Mall. There is a furniture shop that we wanted to browse.

The timing was perfect. We arrived nicely at 10am. The mall was so empty. 

We also saw that the mall has installed new obstacle course. I hope it is safe or that the safety net holds. Hoho. 

While the main objective is to look at the furniture, shopping is also a top priority. 

Daddy Lim and I each brought a backpack and he was commenting that his bag was empty. However, it wasn’t for long. Hoho. 

We bought clothes. Zaky wanted some rings. Nana said that she wanted bigger earrings. 

Even though we left the kids in Singapore, we were always thinking of them. So nice of us. Hoho. 

Time passes so quickly. We settled for lunch bcos our legs were so tired. Lunch was meh. We thought of having a slice of the humongous cake that we saw at one of the cake shops. Unfortunately, our tummies didn’t cooperate. 

We took another grab to return to JB City Square. We needed to collect the contact lenses that we have ordered online and Daddy Lim wanted to make a new pair of glasses too. While he got his eyes tested, I ran around, grabbing muruku, tau sar piah and rotiboy. 

We were right on time for the train. Waiting in line was a torture though bcos my legs were so tired. Fortunately, immigration and the train ride home were again very smooth. 

Back in Singapore, I had to order a grab for him to collect the car. Google map said that bus 170 will bring me home and it is the same bus stop that we alight. Why? Doesn’t that go into JB? As we were trying to figure out, a kind man told us that there are 2 different 170 bsuses stopping at the same bus stop and we have to open our eyes wide to catch the right one. Regardless, the 170 that I needed to go home would come out from JB and how fast the bus will come depends on how bad the custom jam is. At that point, the electronic board said that it was 37 mins. 

In the end, I didn’t want to risk it and took one of the many buses that headed to the Woodlands MRT to continue my way home. There was no other mega celebration on the day bcos I rushed off to color my greys. It had been 9 weeks and my greys were all very eager to meet the world. I couldn’t hide them anymore. Sob.

Speaking of which, I got my 1st grey hair at my right sideburn. This signifies the many more to come and greys at sideburns are so hard to hide. I had this urge to chop off my hair and grow out my greys, like totally. I was told by the hairdresser that it would take 3 years for short hair and it would be 3 painful and ugly years. 

I did cut my hair, chopping away the frizzy ends but nothing as drastic as I imagine. Anyway, new hair for the birthday. Happy Birthday to Me!

Mummy Lim

1st India Trip 2025 Part 2

I was up at 6am again for the gym. This time, I was tortured by the elliptical machine. This one is the killer. So tiring. I missed my favorite elliptical machine, that has been replaced/ removed from the Junction 10 gym.

My 1st call was starting at 8am IST and I had time to sneak a quick bfast before call. The non-veg spread was limited.

Wednesday (day 3) at work was uneventful and we continued to work very hard. After a long work day, we rushed back to take a call at 7.30pm. I managed to order inroom dining before the call. Happy!

I know right, not very healthy. Never mind, I need happy food in Mumbai. 

Thursday (day 4) was the last day in Mumbai. I have decided that it is a non-exercise day bcos I have back to back calls starting from 6.30am IST. Darn the time difference. There wasn’t enough time to go to the gym. I could wake up extra early and do a HiiT in the room, but it was too torturing. I was very glad to skip the exercise too bcos my hair had been so fried. I brought 2 different shampoos, thinking that one of them was conditioner. I had been washing my hair without condition and felt like I had been wearing a hair of hay. 

It was another long day. At least there was proper lunch - we had a team lunch, we finally have enough people in India to call it a team lunch. Hoho. My colleague said that I must try this sugary ball of sin. 

This is really damn sweet. I cannot even finished half the ball. In Mumbai, even the usual cookie/ brownie/ cake is extra sweet.

The weather was damned hot. It wasn’t food coma that killed my afternoon but the sun. That short walk to the restaurant and back zapped all my energy. By the time it was 5pm, I was half dead and very sleepy. A car was arranged for us at 7pm for the airport. 

This was my dinner at the airport. 

I was intending to skip the inflight supper bcos sleep is important. 

Time passed quick enough and it was time to board. My colleague and I were in the same row in the middle block but separated by 2 big Indian men, bcos the travel desk would usually help us book aisle seat. Aisle seats are good, but not when the middle passengers are big people who not only took the arm rest but invade into other people’s air space. Zzzz. 

I skipped supper as planned. I tried to sleep as much. There was some turbulences during the flight and I remembered feeling anxious in my half awake state. 

It was pouring when we landed. There was some slight swaying of the plane. I think it must had rained very hard bcos the offloading of the luggage was delayed and there was a backlog, which further added on to the delay.

After a 30 mins wait, we were informed by a 2nd SMS & email that the offloading needed even more time. We were given the option of requesting for a free home delivery of the luggage. I opted for that bcos I barely have much from the trip and nothing valuable at all. At least I got free milo.

The luggage was finally “home” at 5pm. All good! One more trip completed. 

Mummy Lim

1st India Trip 2025 Part 1

My last India trip was in beginning December 2024. It had been.4 months and I totally didn’t miss India. Hoho. I was putting off the trip until now, when I really have to go to orient a new team member. Yay! With this new member, it hopefully means that I can do lesser or shorter trips to Mumbai Sorry but I don’t love Mumbai. 

India is the last country that I have yet to visit this year. Now, I have completed the loop - Shanghai, JB, Tokyo, Jakarta and Mumbai. Does that mean that I have to start the cycle all over again? Hoho. I do have to go back to Mumbai again in May 25 to ensure that the new colleague is settling in well. 

It is the usual 7.40am flight and I was up at 4ish. The airport was usually crowded. 

There was even queue for the self check in and self bag deposit. 

I didn’t have anything in particular to buy from DFS but didn’t want to break the ritual of buying something before every work trip by flight. I eventually got myself a sunblock. Then I was browsing for trinkets and saw Mr Bear keychain! Expensive lah, $20. Zzzzz.

I get to travel to Mumbai with another colleague this trip. Having a (familiar work) companion to travel is quite nice. We would seated separately but that was alright. I needed to nap to survive the day. 

My flight meal. Not bad and I was hungry too. 

The India immigration was pretty smooth. We headed straight to the site office to start our busy day. By the time we were back in the hotel, it was already almost 8pm. I would usually order room service but had dinner with my colleague this time. I stayed in the same hotel the last round but didn’t even know that the hotel has 2 restaurants. 

My dinner. I wasn’t very hungry.The chicken soup with sweet corn was actually very nice and I ordered the same soup every night. Haha.

We were “upgraded” to a bigger room. It comes with a living hall and the “bedroom” separated. Actually, I don’t know why I needed such a big room. I tried with whatever energy left to check some emails before the zzzz monster consumed me. Then, I had a hard time meddling with the control panel that controlled both the lights and aircon. I didn’t figure out how to turn on the TV for the entire stay. Haha. 

I must have pressed something wrong on the control panel bcos the aircon started to make a lot of noise in the middle of the night. When alone, I usually sleeps in the hotel with the TV on bcos the sound comforts me. Yet, I found the aircon noisy and woke up a couple of times. 

On Tuesday (day 2), I was in the gym at about 6am. 

I am pleased that it was already opened. In the last trip, I always have to remind the staff that it was already 6am and they should open the gym. 

I got my 4.5km done and it felt harder than usual. It must be the Mumbai air.

My calls started at 7am IST and I didn’t have time for bfast, rushing to meet my colleagues at 8.30am to go to the office. Again, another busy day. Again, it was 8pm when we were back in the hotel. There was some renovation work on-going in the restaurant and we opted to do in-room dining. 

The same soup. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

Old Flower Eyes

Checking back my posts, I 1st decided that my eyes were bad enough to need glasses in June 2022. I was still in denial and I got myself a lousy off the shelf, obiang looking black rectangle frame glasses. Maybe I was hoping that it would be temporary. After several months of use, the frame broke and I got 2 proper pairs from Lenskart bcos there was a one-for-one promotion. My eyes were tested and I was told that I should get 150 degree lenses. In the end, I opted for 100 degrees for 1 pair and 150 for the other. 

The glasses served me well and I have them probably for about 2 years. They are still in good condition. I have no idea why Daddy Lim and the kids needed to change their glasses almost every year. Their glasses, bcos the lenses are so freaking expensive, cost at least $500 per pair. At least the Hoya myopic control lenses had been keeping the kids’ degrees stable since lower primary. Nevertheless, my heart aches whenever the kids think that their eyesight had worsen or tell me that they needed to change their glasses bcos the lenses had been badly scratched.

Some time last year, I realised that I am unable to read without my glasses. I now bring them everywhere bcos even looking at the phone without the glasses is not possible. I also realised that on some bad days, the 100 degree glasses still give me bad vision and I have to rely on the 150 one. I can also wear the 100 one comfortably when looking at something slightly further, without the need to remove the glasses. This wasn’t possible in the initial days. In other words, my old flower eyes had become older. T.T

There had been some occasions that I forgot my glasses or they are just not at hand. Just 2 weeks ago, I went to work in the afternoon without them and was in such bad mood at work. My eyesight gets especially bad if I was wearing glasses then without them. That was exactly the situation and I was so blind. The words on the laptop were blur, even though I increased the font size. 

I had been toying with the idea of contact lenses bcos glasses are just a hassle. I finally went to the optical shop where the kids usually got their glasses to ask for free sample. I was given sets of 2 different degree - 100 and 175. I was told that with multi-focal contact lenses, the reading wouldn’t be as sharp and if the reading degree is high, then it will affect the sharpness of looking far away. 

I was very excited to try them. Bcos I have no short sightedness, I barely have experience wearing contact lenses except for during my ROM, when I wanted different colour eyes. Hoho. I do remembered how uncomfortable they were and my eyes were so tired after a few hours. Ah Yee was the one who taught me how to wear the lenses. While I had little problem wearing them, the challenge is to remove the lenses. Pinching at one’s eyeball seems like a scary thing to do. 

Daddy Lim had to show me how to wear the contact lenses yday afternoon. I tried a few times but the lens kept sticking to my finger and Daddy Lim kept repeating that I needed to touch my eyeball. I have no problem touching my eyeball ah. When I was a kid, I used to touch my eyeball for fun but the damn lens just refused to stick to my eyeball. Lol. 

The 主人公 is the eyeball. When the finger (and lens) touch the eyeball, the eyeball must roll around to lock in the lens. I am so surprised to realise how comfortable they are; I barely felt them. I tried to use the laptop and it wasn’t very clear. While I can live with it, I do have to strain my eyes a little. There will also be moments that the reading gets very blurred, then I have to close my eyes and rolled the eyeballs a little. Very busy. 

I wore the lenses until evening and there wasn’t any discomfort. However, in poor light, reading was tough. I knew that I needed to try the higher power lenses. When the staff gave me the higher power ones, I was initially resistant and she persuaded me, telling me that it is normal for “my age” to wear such power. Zzzz… how comforting. 

Taking them off wasn’t as challenging as I feared. Nana showed me the usual pinching way. I cannot. I pinched and failed. Then I tried what I found on Google. Hold the lens, slide it to the side of the eye. The lens will crumple a little, making it easier to pinch and remove. Tadah! I got them off. 

This morning, I tried the higher power lenses. Reading was so much easier. Hohoho. But, looking far away is compromised but tolerable. At least it doesn’t make me dizzy. I did think that the contact lenses gave a very mild dull headache. I duno if I am overthinking or I needed to get used to the lenses. 

Contact lenses are expensive compared to my trusty glasses. I do want to try to wear them some times bcos glasses are inconvenient. Auntie T shared a lobang, that it is cheaper to try to buy from JB and shared a contact. I am going to try. Nana is running out of contact lenses too. She has started to ditch her glasses and don a new look since she started ACJC.

Oh ya, I never think that my eyes are small until I started wearing contact lenses. Do eyes become smaller as we grow older?

Mummy Lim

I Got Ears

In the recent years, I have seen very fanciful motorcycle helmets, some with fluffy ears, others with big bow and laces. No such things during my times. 

I had been telling Daddy Lim that I wanted to”fluffy ears” for my cycling helmet too. I had seen some crazy cyclists stuck fluffy ears to theirs and I wanted that too. I finally bought my fluffy ears off Shoppee. They are not expensive, less than $10. 

Actually, I forgot that I bought them. The package came, Zaky opened it and was asking what furry thing did I buy. Ah! My ears! Hoho. The package came with a ball or what looks like tail too. Haha.

Daddy Lim said that they are too close together, but that is the only flat and big enough surface to stick the ears. The ears are stuck on using velco with tape, which also mean that the ears can be taken off when needed (thankfully).

This morning, I went for my WWF ride. I did feel quite stupid, and that I am probably too old for these. Nevertheless, I should at least wear them once. 都买了 While riding to the meet up point, I checked a few times to make sure that they didn’t fly off. Not aero-dynamic at all. lol. 

It was fun though. Hoho. 

At some point, it started drizzling and I was thinking if I needed to “keep my ears”. Luckily, the drizzle ceased quickly.

The ears are still intact. I apparently didn’t ride fast enough to blow them away. Haha. Will I wear them again? Maybe. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Project Rio - 3D Round 2

We met the ID last weekend for the 2nd variation of 3D drawing. There isn’t major changes - Nana wanted her study table on the bay window, Zaky will have his bed on the bay window, the kitchen entrance will be enlarged and some darker splashes of color to the kitchen cabinets. 

Then, it was a whole session of selecting and confirming the floor vinyl and laminate color. This was the easy part. The IDs then brought us to the tile shop a short walk away to confirm on the tiles. The IDs busied themselves, walking around, putting the different tiles together and asked us for confirmation. This, this and this for the common toilet; this, that and that for the master bedroom toilet. After a while, they all looked the same to me. I leave this part largely to Daddy Lim. 

I had thought that we were done but were brought to another “you can buy all kinds of needed household stuff” shop. We got everything from curtains, to kitchen sink, hob and hood, taps, toilet bowls, ceiling fan, etc. We would have bought the lights too if it isn’t bcos the electrical points are not firmed. 

We walked away $12k poorer. Seriously.. $12k. As the sales led us around the shop, selecting this and that, I was busy looking at the price tags, trying to remember if I had budgeted enough. I also realised that I missed budgeting for so many items - toilet roll holders, taps, ceiling fans, curtains…. Die. It is really a “brand new” home and there are so many things to buy and fit in.

We were finally done after spending $12k. We spent the entire afternoon with the IDs, something that we didn’t expect. At least, we have curtains, ceiling fans and duno what all matchy, matchy with the reno style and color. 

The key collection is supposed to be in mid May. The seller/ tenant messaged last week, informing that they are intending to move out earlier bcos their new place has been completed. They are ceasing the utilities on 16 April. That is to say, there is a possibility of us collecting the keys earlier. We have no rush as well, given that our current place is leased until end November. I am not sure if the landlord would allow us to end lease earlier. Now that Nana is in ACJC, their schools continue to be in the west and so is Daddy Lim’s workplace. 

Meanwhile, the IDs have sent us the laminate samples for reference. I totally don’t remember/ know which one is for what. lol.

I think the next step is the key collection, then the site inspection and adjustments to the drawing. So exciting! 

Mummy Lim

Beach Volleyball

The WWFs cycled to Kallang recently and I saw somebody playing beach volleyball. I was tempted and so, suggested to do beach volleyball for the March gathering. I had to book the big kids’ calendar weeks in advance bcos relying just on a few aunties to play beach volleyball on a big court is courting death. We needed more people to fill up the court. Hoho.

I found that the beach volleyball court at Kallang can be booked for free for the 1st 60 mins and max of 2 x 60 mins can be booked in one go. The online booking opens up for booking 1 week in advance. I did my booking last Sunday and by the time I remember to log in, only 11am to 4pm slots were available. I booked the 3pm slot and was already thinking about how bad we will be melting. 

We arranged to meet at 2.30pm bcos I thought some registration was required. It turned out not. We simply walked to the courts. There were 2 courts side by side and some young adults were using the courts. We were very nice, we waited until 3.01pm to nicely tell them that we had booked the court for 3pm. 

Oh yes, it was very hot. We started digging the ball over the net for a good 10 mins before auntie DL came. See, the court is so big!

We looked like we got some volleyball style at least. Whether the ball goes over the net is a different thing. Hoho.

While we sweat it out in the court, the little ones were happily playing with their sand kit. 

Auntie S and her kids came at about 3.40pm. By then, we were seriously tired. Auntie TL said that she will teach us this game called Jailbreak and there will be minimum running. Sounds good. Just when we got back into the court, the group who booked the other court at 4pm asked us to join them for a game bcos they didn’t know how to play and didn’t have enough people. We said we will do that later bcos we wanted to play this Jailbreak 1st. 

Auntie TL bluff people. No need to run - my foot ah. We were dripping sweat by the end of 2 games and all agreed that we needed another break. Lol. Just when we were ready to do some digging, the group invited us again. We are too popular, no choice. Hoho. 

They are a group of locals and foreigners, who came together to learn Spanish (I think). All of them don’t know how to play and we definitely helped. 

I think we played a total of 3 or 4 games. It was hot and tiring but quite fun. At one point, I had to walk away to cheers to buy cold water and 100 plus. 

The rain clouds came when it was nearing 5pm. The last bit of time, despite the pain in our arms, the aunties and Nana played off the court. It is so much fun when the ball is delivered to right in front of us, saving us the need to run like mad. We even spiked quite a few balls. Fun ah. Hoho. Even Nana kept saying that it was so fun. 

We had to pack up quickly bcos there was lightning alert and the rain was coming. We were all red from the sun. 

The group who asked us to join them photobombed our photo.

We left the court and went to find dinner. We wanted to go to the usual pizza place. Nana said that it was nostalgic bcos we used to eat at that pizza place when we came to the Kallang Wave Mall when they were much younger. 

Unfortunately, it was full and we headed to Popeyes instead. Nana said that it was just as good bcos we did Popeyes a lot too in the past. We occupied 3 tables, then the teenagers said that they would go for ice cream. After a while, the little ones went to run in the open space outside Popeyes. 

Left the aunties. We didn’t mind. 

While we had a lot of fun, the aunties also had a lot of bruises. I didn’t; I don’t get bruises easily but my arms have this blue black aches. 

Auntie TL’s.

Auntie S’s.

Auntie H had it the worse. She bruises so easily and is always the one with the most blue black even back during our school days. 

She looked like she kena tortured. lol. 

The little ones ran in the open space for a long time. Long time ago, the big kids were doing exactly that, when they were little. The big kids came back and continue playing the volleyball. The adults continued to chit chat. I am so reminded of the old days. 

We left Kallang at 8ish. Auntie S said that she needed yoko. lol.

I was so tired. Especially when I already went for step class in the morning and my Garmin had asked me to rest 56 hours. Hoho. Daddy Lim still had energy to go to Blackbird. I went to bed at 10ish. Hohoho. 

Mummy Lin