Home Improvements Part 2

Popo went on another cruise last weekend. No, we didn't scrub and clean this time bcos I was feeling lazy and didn't drag everybody into some spring cleaning. Lucky them. Hoho. 

What I did do was to arrange for the aircon servicing. We have not serviced the aircon since shifting in 1 year back. The advice is to turn on the aircon on a regular basis; the units in the living room and popo's room are super underutilised. I bet the kids will be very pleased with the advice to regularly turned on the living room's aircon. 

School has finally ended for Zaky and his results are back. While his grades are decent, he definitely has room for improvements and needs to improve for PSLE. What doesn't change is the annual year end cleansing ritual. Lil Shauna has done hers a couple of weeks ago and it is finally time for Zaky. I cannot be more glad. Hohoho. 

His study table is so much neater now. I am very happy. Hoho. 

The Christmas tree has been also fully set up and decorated. 

We have also decorated the shelf. 

Look at the 3 blissful Christmas figurines. 

Looking forward to the last of our planned home improvement plan. Coming soon... 

Mummy Lim

PSLE Results Today

The PSLE result was released this morning. One year ago, we were anxious over Lil Shauna's results. Next year at about the same time, we would be anxious over Zaky's results. Why so much excitements in a short span of 2 years? Haha. 

I remembered how anxious I was one year back. On the morning to receive her results, I even dreamt that Lil Shauna got 237 and was posted to Bukit Timah Secondary School. I was awoken by the dream and googled about the school only to realise that there isn't such a school. Lol. 

Lil Shauna did much better (than my dream) and we are all very pleased with her achievement. We are even more pleased with how much she is enjoying her colorful secondary school life.

I wanted to blog, so as to remember her secondary school choices when we looked back many years later. 

1. MGS 

2. RV

3. NH

4. Crescent Girls

5. Fairfield Methodist

6. CHIJ St Theresa 

Were we disappointed that she didn't get into the top 2 choices? I don't remember but for sure she is having so much fun now that she thinks NH is totally the school for her. 

Mummy Lim

Christmas Performances

Many moons back, Christmas = gatherings and gifts exchanging. As Lil Shauna enters her teenager years, Christmas has become so much busier. She has joined her youth group to put up some dance performances for some Christmas outreach programs and had been so busy learning and practicing the item. Poor Daddy Lim had been activated to pick her on many weekday nights after her rehearsals. 

Apparently the performance will not only be live but also recorded. One Saturday, she was out an entire day for the filming. 

Don't ask me why 2 high pigtails. This is obviously before the hair cutting incident and I am not sure what she can carry on the actual performance. Lol. 2 anyhow sticking out pigtails? Hahaha. 

Then, she decided to join her ice skating club for another performance. We had imagined it to be some interesting program only to turn up for the 1st off ice practice to a group of very basic skaters. Hahaha. 

They had their full-dress rehearsal last Thursday night after her CCA. It was a full 2-hour practice for the amateur skaters to practice despite the routine being a very basic one in Lil Shauna's context. They did the program for what looked like 20x and I was imagining how bored Lil Shauna could be. Haha. It was alright, she made some new friends and was leisurely skating in between waits. She was just very exhausted after the long day at the end. 

Zaky got roped in to jiejie's youth group church's performance too. The church planned to film a short video and were looking for ka-le-fe actors. Zaky happily raised his hands. 

So on another Sunday early morning, we sent him to some Goodman building in Kallang. He had some miscommunication and there was transport from the church and we ended up so much earlier; so much time to monkey around.

It was some classroom setting and he was provided with school uniform. I was worried that he cannot fit into the pants but it turned out that the shirt was mini. Lol. 

It looked like some Malaysia school uniform, right? 

The background setup was realistic, got school crest on the uniform and the production crew brought in tables, chairs, writing materials and even the chalkboard. Zaky had a line and it was "six"! Lol. At least he got to say something. 

While he didn't know anybody, I had to leave him and bumped into a teenage who proclaimed that she is Lil Shauna's best friend in youth and would help watch over Zaky. Just nice. The event took up the Sunday morning and Zaky said that it was an fun experience. 

Fast forward to yday's pm, Lil Shauna did her 1st Christmas ice performance with the group. It started with the adult dance couples. 

Before the little ones rushed in while trying not to knock anybody. 

As you can tell, with the restrictions, we had to watch from outside. 

No T-shirt allowed and Lil Shauna ended up with a crop top. Cold? Not when one skates hard enough.

That's it! One more performance to go in December. 

Mummy Lim

Cut Hair 记

Once upon a time, I had a princess who refused to cut her hair. She has chest-long, fine and brownish hair. I had so much joy tying her hair. Her insistence to grow her hair grew stronger after watching Rapunzel, thinking that she would lose her magic with any snip. I had to plead with her to trim her hair.

As years go by, she had been requesting to cut her hair every now and then. Not short, short kind of hair but nothing of its former glorious length was left. It was my turn to persuade her to keep her crown of glory; it is very difficult to bun or style for her ice skating competitions. 

She has joined the netball team in her secondary school. Her school has this strange rule for all girls to tie their hair in French braid - *every single school day*. Yours truly has been waking up early every school day to braid her hair. Some days, her hair looks worse than others but they are French braided nevertheless. It is no easy feat trying to French braid hair the moment one gets out of bed. Haha. She has learnt not to demand or complain too much of her mother's hair braiding skill and opted to pin the weird sticking out strands when needed. 

Her CCA has a stricter rule for the girls to keep their hair shorter than a certain length. Being the guai guai student her whole life, she obediently adhered to the rule. Even more frequently now, she requests for hair cuts. Sob. I really missed her long hair. She only got to grow them out a little bit bcos of the eCCA and the EOY exams and had requested for a hair cut again bcos physical CCA has resumed. Zzzzzzz..

We couldn't find a salon on Wednesday evening after SISA. She had CCA yday afternoon and was determined to have her hair trimmed before that. Thus, she had gone to JP in the late morning for the quest singlehandedly.

When she was home, I could hear her giggles and laughs at the door and shown up in these. 

So freaking short!

Daddy Lim asked if she was imitating C, who was recently spotted a short crop. Auntie S asked why the impulse. All wrong........... It was apparently a miscommunication outcome. Hahahaha. She said that the uncle speaks Chinese and it was too late to rectify the problem when she realised how much was chopped off. Haiz, see lah, the importance of learning Chinese! Hahaha. I asked if that means no French braiding is required when school starts. She shrugged. 

She headed for her CCA in a tiny pony hair. By the time I saw her in the rink for the Christmas performance practice, it was a *hair spouting everywhere* pony tail. I managed to French braid her hair and it was messy but braided nevertheless. There were more crazy sticking our hair bcos her hair was really too short but never mind lah. Haha. 

This is a 不三不四 length. I am really hoping that they will grow out enough for me to properly braid them when school starts. 

Is she upset with the mistake? Thankfully she found it more amusing. She had never had this short hair and with a teenager mindset, was busy texting and IG-ing her new look. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

SA2 Done

Preparation for SA2 has a different feel this year. In the past, both kids would have been mugging past exam papers at about the same time and I get very busy alongside them. This year, Lil Shauna had been independent in studying for EOY exams and I didn't have to sweat about her. 

After a year in secondary school, we have come to acknowledge that she has barely any artistic and musical talents, scrapping through her art and music assessments consistently through the year. Lol. She struggled with the humanities as well and considered getting tuition help but I had asked that she gives herself more time. These are new and very different from primary school subjects after all and I think she needs to grasp how to study and take exams for these subjects. 

The SA2 preparation is even weirder for Zaky. The prolong HBL before SA2 gave us a lot of time to do past year papers and we completed what were passed down from Boo almost a week before SA2. Then, the school 1st informed us that paper 1 for EL and CL would be canceled. Soon after, we were told that oral would also be canceled. Zzzzz.  These are 2 segments that we exactly cannot practice and grade (at least I cant) on our own. With these 2 components removed and taking up almost half of the total subject score, there is almost no way to properly gauge the students' subject competencies. I don't know what the school is thinking about. Their "consideration" to not overly tax the students this year has definitely pushed the burden to the already stressful P6 year ahead. Anyway....

Then Daddy Lim was tested C+ and I initially thought that the kids would be confined and Zaky missing his SA2. I further lost steam in helping him prepare. The only subject that we continued to work hard on was Chinese bcos there is like truckload of 生词 to revise. He eventually took his SA2, much to his disappointment. He also had that glimpse of hope to be able to skip SA2. Haha. 

I didn't know what to expect for his SA2. The year had been really disruptive with multiple episodes of HBL, which truthfully had not been effective. I supposed the school had taken that into consideration in setting easier papers as well. 

His SA2 results turned out decent. Of course the expectations that I had set for him is higher. Hohoho. 

Jiejie had set the benchmark for PSLE as well as the guidelines on how and when to start studying for PSLE. Interestingly, Zaky appeared to be a lot clearer about what he wanted to achieve for PSLE and the new AL scoring system makes setting goals easier too. Jiejie must have been a good role model. 

I must helped him in his goal, right? Hoho. I am very helpful. Hohoho. The 1st step is to head down to Popular for assessment books. His Chinese tutor has recommended 4. I bought a Maths guide and an English assessment to help in his weak areas. He is not on English tuition now and I hoped that we can stay that way for P6. 

By Auntie H's recommendation, we got him a $50 English assessment book. This is like the most expensive assessment book that I have ever bought for the kids. It is quite good, coming with detailed solution key and explanations. In the past, when Zaky got his grammar wrong, we can never really properly explained the rules, we can only tell him that bcos the right answer sounds "right". 

I had also prebooked an one hour slot with him on Saturday afternoon, asking him to give me his 120% attention during that hour. He did and we worked out all the topics that he had to revise for Maths and Science. In addition, we sat down to revise the 1st Science topic, guiding him how to do so. We also attempted 1 mini segment of the English assessment; he is to do just one mini segment per day, and we found how helpful the answer key was. 

On Sunday evening, Auntie H is also very helpful and passed on more assessment books that Boo didn't complete to Zaky. Hohoho. 

One of them was actually passed on from Lil Shauna to Boo and now made it back. We used to do that with the kids' clothes and now it is assessment books. Did I take them? Of course. Whether we will use them or not is another story and the unused ones will be passed down again. I am sure there will be some. Hahaha. 

With these, we kick started our revision journey for PSLE. I am so looking forward to the end of the school term and be able to clear out all the P5 worksheets and workbooks, just like a cleansing ritual. Hohoho. 

Mummy Lim

Home Improvements Part 1

It had been slightly over a year since we moved into LV. We didn't opt for huge carpentry work but mainly movable furniture. Thus our humble home didn't have those highly coloured coordinated look or atas renovated feeling that one finds in the home decor magazine. 

Precisely bcos the cupboards and shelves are not built in, we could re-arrange some of the furniture when needed. We did that with Lil Shauna's room when Daddy Lim was in QO and I had been thinking of what we could do with the living room. I like the minimalist look but do think that our living room does look a little too bare.

Popo going on cruise is always a good time to start. On Saturday evening, we roped in the kids to give the kitchen a good wipe down. This is like our routine when Popo is away. I started ordering storage and organisation stuff online. Shopping is always therapeutical before the credit card bill hits. Haha. 

On Sunday, we went to Ikea to lug a shelf that I have been eyeing since day 1. It is the same series as our TV console. 

Zaky said that he wanted to take a picture with his "friends". He has 2 of the exact same dog at home since he was really young. 

Then he was photo-bomb by black panther. Lol.

On Monday morning, it was very exciting when the phone kept buzzing to inform of upcoming delivery. Hoho. Christmas came early again.

The 1st to be delivered - 2 storage boxes for the fridge.

Next, the Christmas tree. Hoho. Our 1st ever Christmas tree, standing in the box beside the Ikea shelf.

More storage shelves for the storeroom. 

We also have my cycling shorts, Zaky's bday yoyo and Daddy Lim's watch strap delivered. So many things!

Zaky helped to unwrap the Christmas tree but gave up shortly. It was jiejie who completed the set-up.

We had a fruitful evening. I fixed up the 2 shelves and managed to do a quick re-arrangement of the storeroom plus cleared up a box of ah yee's books and notes that she had left behind since like years ago. The box moved with us from 987 to Centris to LV.

Yay, more space in the storeroom!

Daddy Lim started on the Ikea shelf and that took us an hour at least. I was reminded of the day that we shifted in to LV and had to assemble the big storeroom shelf ourselves bcos of the messed up move. It feels exactly the same, fortunately on a much smaller scale. 

Finally! Tadah!

I even allowed Daddy Lim to buy a mini plant to put on the shelf. Hoho. Now, it is to think of how to beautify the shelf. I do think that at least 1 family photo is needed. 

Last but not least, our 1st ever Christmas tree. 

Sorry, still 素颜-ing. Hohoho. More shopping go be done. So exciting... 

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 254: Hedwig Theme

There are a few things about Lil Shauna's ice skating that always get me very excited - her mastering a new jump/ spin, her doing her program with music and of course the tests/ competitions. 

Fortunately for me, I had the opportunity to witness many of these exciting events in her 7 years of skating life. Oh yes, it had been 7 years since she stepped on ice. This triggered me to go look for the blog post where she had her 1st ice skating lesson. 

Lil Shauna and her usual pink legging combo in her early years. Hoho. She said that she didn't at all recollect her 1st lesson. 

She had been learning her program for her basic novice test for a while. There was no rush and we wanted her to take her time. I had been waiting for her to start doing her program with music and it finally happened on Sunday morning. Hoho. 

It was the Hedwig theme and ties in with my mood bcos I am re-reading the Harry Potter books. Hoho. I am quite sure I was more excited than she is over the practice. 

For the 1st part, she was too fast and Coach has to add in additional steps. Even then, she was too fast and was doing her sit spin forever to wait for the right time to continue her 2nd segment. Then, she was too slow for the 3rd segment, and still slow after 3 tries. That was the end of the program practice with music and I was still yearning to see more. 

This is Coach chasing after Lil Shauna, so that she can hear the music playing from his phone.

It was a hard lesson. Lil Shauna was perspiring like mad, with wet fringe at the end of her lesson. Good workout leh. 

I am so looking forward to her next lesson. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

Christmas Came Early

I had been an android phone user for many years and naturally the kids followed suit. My 1st smart phone was actually an iPhone. However, I got so fed up when I wasn't able to replace the dying battery (when it was still an android phone feature then) and couldn't download pictures to the computer. I switched to android, loving its removable storage card function and never look back. 

Back then, it is a no brainer  to use a Samsung phone if one is an android user. About 2.5years back, I switched to oppo bcos  the Samsung phones were so freaking expensive even with a contract renewal. 我买不下去 . The kids got their phones soon after I did and they were all on oppo. 

There is nothing wrong with oppo phones. They work fine and we got used to them. The only con is the lack of fanciful phone covers. It is almost impossible to find oppo phone covers at those ah beng phone shops. The ones that we ordered online ended up looking quite different from what they are supposed to look like. Hahaha. 

Daddy Lim switched to gomo when his contract ended with M1. He often raved about his 50 or 70gb monthly data, costing a fraction of what we pay M1. Zaky is also on gomo when we bought him a basic oppo phone. 

Lil Shauna and my contract with M1 ended a few months back. Our oppo phones are still  working fine but we were lured by the option to renew our contract and get new phones. Lil Shauna wanted an iPhone bcos "everybody" is using iPhone in school. After much research on whether we should renew our contract with M1 or switch to gomo, we reckoned that the cost is about the same over a 2 year period. The former allows a lower upfront payment (for the phone) but higher subscriptions (yet less data) over the 24 months period. 

We eventually decided to switch to gomo. For $18 per month, we will get 50gb. Hohoho. I had to deny Lil Shauna for her iPhone request bcos iPhone 13 is so freaking expensive! It is almost impossible to find the cheaper iPhone 11 selling in shops now. 

After some physical shopping, I convinced Lil Shauna to keep to android. Tadah!

Not the latest Galaxy S21, one generation back but not much worse and at a good price. Hoho. 

It takes a while to transfer the data from the old phone to the new phone and then to rearrange the transferred data, plus a few more days to get used to the new phone. After the easing in, I am totally loving my Samsung again. 

What happened to the old oppo phones? They are working perfectly fine and I am thinking of handing mine down to Zaky. His current screen is partially discolored at one  corner and my old phone is more powerful than his. Lil Shauna's oppo was passed down to Popo. Yay, you read me right. 

Many months back, when Daddy Lim moved to Google phone, I attempted unsuccessfully to switch her to Daddy Lim's old Huawei. She put up so much resistance that I had to switch her back. This time, she had asked to use Lil Shauna's old phone, realising how much easier it is to check vaccination status when she goes for her cruises. 

Lil Shauna's phone was reset and the basics were set up for Popo, changing the display language to Chinese and increasing the font size to the biggest possible. Then it was lesson 101 to teach her how to use a smart phone. It was difficult for her to understand how a touch screen works and she ended up activating OK Google instead of the home button. Zzzzz.

Lil Shauna attempted to turn off OK Google function and was telling the phone "OK Google". Popo overheard and exclaimed, "   

还要叫她 OK, *good girl* 啊? 我不会." Hohohohoho.. it was so hilarious. 

Popo eventually learnt the basics of the smart phone. I hope it makes her feel younger now and fortunately, there is no need to call the phone "good girl". Merry Christmas!

Mummy Lim

Covid-19 Part 5

Daddy Lim has exited his exile in victory yday. Hohoho. The new ruling basically says that when time's up, he is allowed out of his confinement, no testing needed, no questions asked. It is like the covid-19 viruses/ germs are supposed to disappeared when the clock struck 12. 

I don't know if that is the case but we took no chance and went on washing and cleaning.

It was disinfectant spray, antibacterial febreeze and Dettol everywhere. We used so much Dettol that the smell became overpowering and the moment I entered the room, I felt like I was teleported to a hospital. I had always thought that I like the Dettol smell. Now I know that overpowering Dettol is not exactly pleasing. 

Daddy Lim was pleased to be out of the house and happily offered to buy lunch. In the afternoon, he was sitting at his desk beside mine, watching his Netflix and chit chatting with me. It reminded me of those times that we both WFH. 

We opted for dinner outside bcos we just must. It was simple pratas but a pleasure to be dining outside. Dinner was completed with desserts that go to the heart and not the stomach (the kids' saying but I am sure they bluff me bcos I felt my shorts' waistband). 

Daddy Lim washed down the waffle with an espresso. It looks like some dessert right? Or like he was going to drink some sake.

The kids couldn't finish their waffle with double scoops ice cream and who got to benefit?

Despite it being only 10 days, I really missed having somebody to help with the leftover food. Hahaha. 

What I also am very absolutely glad, is to relinquish the driving responsibility. It was a joy to be able to sit in the passenger seat to check my phone, look outside the window, chit chat, anything but just not having to constantly concentrate on the road. Hoho. 

Daddy Lim is back at work this morning and it is back to his turn to drive Zaky to school. Yay! Lim Family 1, Covid 0. Fighting! 

Mummy Lim

Weekend w/o Daddy Lim

We survived the 7-day HRW period and managed to stay infection free. Hoho. I feel like I deserved a medal or something. 

On Saturday morning, I so wanted to cycle so much and jumped on the wagon when one of the usual kakis jio-ed. It didn't matter where we were riding to. The original idea was a chilled PNC ride for bfast. The chilled PCN part did take place after bfast but before that I didn't know how I found myself ending up at the fringe of ECP, clocking a total distant of 74km. Hohoho. I haven't rode this far for a long time and felt exhausted for the rest of the day. 

I wore my brand new pearl izumi cycling shorts and it is good leh but I paid a price for quality. I was dressed in singlet thinking that I would get some vitamin D under the shady trees but was burnt like hell. Hoho. This angle good, I look skinny. Haha. 

Bfast was at 2 men bagel. My 1st try and I like it. I like most things doughy. 

Jiak ah!

The bagels were huge and super tasty. 

We didn't do much in the afternoon except to get the kids into various classes and then I had to bug them to go home bcos I was so tired. 

We were contemplating another hike on Sunday morning but hiking didn't at all sound appealing in my exhausted physical state. Even though the Kallang Skatepark was closed for maintenance, we headed down for some round and round skating. 

It was a sunny morning, super bright and I thought it would be an ok drive having drove the kids to Kallang before. I was utterly wrong. I should have brought along sunglasses. The morning sun was so glaring. I wasnt used to the sun shade being pulled down and was contoured in a weird sitting position while driving. Then, at many points, the glare was so bad, reflecting off our badly scratched and dusted windscreen that I couldn't see even the markings on the road. I feared for our lives, particularly at the bends. I was so thankful to make it alive, safe and sound to Kallang. I was gripping the steering wheel so hard. 救命啊!

It was a hot morning and we had a good workout despite only skating around the tracks. We left at 10am and couldn't wait to get back into the car, into aircon. The drive back was a lot easier. Zaky was my co-pilot both ways and he is really good helping with reading out in advance of the Google map. 

Lil Shauna just relax happily in the back seat. 

We again made it home safe and sound, people and car alike. 

Lil Shauna still had the energy to go for her ice practice in the afternoon before we tabao dinner home and ended our weekend. All good as we looked forward to Daddy Lim's exit the next day. Hohoho. 

Mummy Lim