Scammers!

Carousell has been advertising, encouraging people to sell some of the old stuff. We had some good successes with Carousell, selling off the car bicycle rack, Nana and Zaky's old mountain bikes and the hamster tunnels. I bought a few stuff from Carousell too, normally 2nd hand items and am pleased with my experience so far. 

Every now and then, I would browse Carousell for fun and I thought that I see more and more new stuff on sales (than 2nd hand stuff). If it is new stuff, I rather buy from Lazada and Shopee, which are supposed to be more trusted and tested platforms. Anyway, I decided to put up the quads roller skates and Nana's old(er) pair of ice skates for sales. 

The quad skates posting was up last week. A few days later, I saw that 2 users had initiated chat/ interest in the skates but before I even reacted, their accounts were suspended by Carousell. I got reminded of the recent Carousell scamming cases. 

A few days after, I listed Nana's ice skates. Almost immediately, somebody chatted and expressed interest. The conversation was dodgy, asking where I stayed and asked for Carousell courier delivery bcos the buyer stayed on the other end of Singapore. He/ she made an offer immediately without hesitation/ negotiation/ questions, claiming that the price and size are right (for his/ her daughter). 

This doesn't feel right. There are many different brands and models and pairs of ice skates on sales. A skater (or parents of skaters looking for such mid end pair) would like ask many questions. The Carousell account was also created on the same day. 

I reported the account and it was suspended immediately. Right then, another user texted me, with almost exactly the same context. Deju vu. I reported again.

Carousell feels very unsafe now. I think it will be a while before the scammers moved on to another channel. 

That is to say, my quads and Nana's ice skates are still available. Anyone? Friendship price. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

How We Spent Christmas Part 4

Ok lah, the last part already. No more after this. 

The big girls had several occasions, arranged to meet up. The 1st few were quite screwed up with misarranged date/ time and miscommunications when the mummies attempted to step in. Subsequently, they become more mature and expert, and even went to USS Halloween night in the most recent gathering. 

The boys on the other hands are younger and haven't ventured out as much as the jiejies. It was always the mummies who helped to arrange the playdates. No more. The boys are catching up with the jiejies and had arranged to meet up at CityHall yday. 

What were their programs? Chill. They know how to chill? The girls would do window shopping but the boys? They ended up eating Starbucks and playing arcade. 

I was in the office and told Zaky that I would be able to meet him to go home together. Then I asked if the boys wanted to do dinner together. I was told that they would walk to Raffles Place, where they would meet up with me. The last I checked their location, they were at Esplanade MRT. They know how to walk to Raffles Place MRT? I don't even know how to do that. 

After multiple messages, Zaky sent me this. 

Raffles City lah, not Raffles Place MRT. Zzzzz.

I took the train down and met up with the  boys and 1 jiejie. Where did that jiejie come from? Haha.

The kids were fed and were happy to go home. 

Last but not least to the Christmas celebration, Daddy Lim bought this for Nana. 

Before she gave up ice skating, on top of her busy school and social life, she said that she wanted to learn drumming and wanted to buy a drum set to practice. I objected and rejected. She simply has no time. 

Obviously when it comes to buying things, Daddy Lim is so much more generous that I am. So here you go. Zzzzzzz. I think she is 三分钟热度. Let's see how many 分钟 she lasts. 

With that, it is finally the end of our mega Christmas celebration with family and friends. We are blessed, so blessed. Next up, New Year. Daddy Lim and I need to go to the kopitiam on New Year's Eve to countdown. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

How We Spent Christmas Part 3

Before I concussed, I was thinking if I should accompanied Daddy Lim for bfast before he went to work. Yes, he worked too on Boxing Day. The alarm rang and I barely made it to turn it off and decided that I needed more sleep to function for the rest of the day. This would be for everybody's good. I am noble. Hoho. 

I got up at 8am, earlier than the kids bcos I thought that poor Mochi would be caged if I didn't let him out. I don't know if he was particularly happy with being let out but he supervised my present wrapping. 

We were meeting the aunties and kids for Christmas celebration in the late afternoon. The kids asked to do something in the day and we arranged to meet Auntie S and the kids. The kids caught a movie while the aunties roamed Suntec. Not long after, we sat down for teh bcos we were both still very dead and tired from the previous night's mambo. Hoho. My back and right knee hurt like hell. 

The Christmas gathering was at T Junction; we needed a big place with the big kids. As per usual big event gathering, the aunties planned and conducted games. The kind of games that we played, I think we put orientation camps to shame. Hoho. I was so glad when we stopped for dinner bcos it was damned tiring. 

Right after dinner, the kids were asking for more games. Not tired meh? Part 2 of the games required the kids to run and hide in the entire building, leaving the aunties some time to play nerds. 

The night ended up presents!

Logcake!

Of course the customary pictures. 

Nana is very sad to realise that the girls have caught up with her (height). The girls were all trying to stand very tall. Lol. After a decent photo, we had another one - all tiptoeing bcos nobody wanted to look short. Lol. 

The aunties had our turn too. We not competitive like the kids. The "not so tall" aunties already 认命 after so many years. Haha.

The last bit of the gathering was packing and cleaning up, returning the venue as clean as before we used it - the Natveens upbringing.  With that, we marked the end of our Christmas celebrations. 

Mochi got to benefit from Christmas too. Auntie T received 3 boxes of cat wet food that were wrongly sent to her address without an avenue for return. 

Mochi would be very happy. I am happier bcos these are saving a big sum from my pocket. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

How We Spent Christmas Part 2

I am a morning person and was up at 6ish despite not riding bcos Daddy Lim was up for work. Poor thing. I am very nice and accompanied him for bfast at the kopitiam. I think the kopitiam uncles had a more exciting Christmas eve that we did. There were streamers littering the grass patch beside the kopitiam and hanging light sticks. Ya, confirm they are more happening than us. Maybe we can join them for new year's countdown. Lol. 

I got sick of the regulat gym. There was no ride with the regular groups. I decided to roll in my small wheels instead. It had been a long time and I was almost worried that I would forget how to. 

I didn't. The journey on pavements and crossing to and back from the park were challenging but I survived. It was a good roll, just that the park is small for me to clock distant and I got bored repeating the same route. 

Christmas celebration was with my brother's family and at their place. Of course there were a lot of good food and a lot of fun. We played Nitendo Switch and Daddy Lim then asked if we should buy one for ourselves. Zzzz. No, pls no. We have way too many entertainment gadgets at home. The PS5 is sitting lonely in the TV console and he doesn't need another friend to join his loneliness.

I duno how durian made it into the Christmas Dinner menu. Lol.

Ah yee's Christmas celebration looks a lot more formal. They were all dressed up and dressed better than when we celebrated CNY. Haha. 

Was that all to my Christmas celebration? For once, NO! Hoho. Auntie S had been asking when we would go dancing again. The last was a Mambo night in Novemeber 2019 and soon the whole covid begins. It had been 3 long years. 

I googled and there was Mambo while we were in Melbourne. Mambo was taking place on Christmas too. We prebooked ourselves 3 tickets and agreed to meet at 11pm bcos we all had Christmas programs before that. To survive, I even took a long nap in the afternoon bcos my bedtime is 10pm. Haha. 

Nana is very amused, She said that Zouk is for young people bcos her seniors go to Zouk and I am too old. She obviously didn't know Mambo. Zaky asked if I can bring him along. Ok, in another 6 years. 

Clubs don't get crowded early now and we were surprised to see a decent crowd at 11ish. In our times, we were in clubs by 8pm to get free entry and one for one drinks during happy hours. Now, I totally can/ need to snatch a nap before clubbing. Lol. 

Was it good? Oooo.. I totally enjoyed the good dance workout after 3 years. I thought about bringing Daddy Lim the next round but clubs are very different now and there are no seats at all unless a table reservation is made. I dont think Daddy Lim would stand for 3 hours. Old knees cannot. Hoho. Again in our times, opening a bottle of liquor and setting one back by $100+ would get us a table. Nowadays, I heard that there is a minimum spent for table reservations and that is a crazy 4 digits sum. We saw a couple of times in the night, an entourage of pretty (and young) girls carrying bottles with flashing lights and loud accompanying music, making spectacular entrance to the tables and ending the performance with popping streamers. Well, I am sure some of the cost needs to go to that "performance". 

What is also surprising is the crowd of young people. Young people know Mambo and retro music? Hmmm.. must be the work of tiktoks. They did look like they were enjoying themselves but fortunately, majority of the crowd are the boomer people. I like. We still get those "Mambo hand action dancers" but I don't think the dancestyle would last long bcos most (if not all) of them on the platform are the 油腻大叔, with bellies so big that I saw one struggled to climb onto the speaker (aka platform). I don't think the younger crowd enjoy this dancestyle but did had a good entertainment from the "Mambo dancers". 

We danced until almost 3am when the music got lousy. Zouk closes at 4am and we couldn't last so long too. We didn't get additional drinks (except Auntie S) and were dying of thirst.. and painful knees and back. Lol.

It was easy to get a car and I made it home and in bed by 3.30am. Yawns. 

Mummy Lim

How We Spent Christmas Part 1

This was a short week as I was on leave on Wednesday to buy school books and uniform with Zaky. I think every other colleague is on leave bcos my work calendar was exceptionally empty. I don't get many emails or messages from colleagues too. It is actually a nice way to welcome Christmas and to end the year. Hoho. 

True be told, I can't remember if it was similar the last 2 covid year end. I think not bcos travel was restricted then and everybody ended up working. I like this quiet. There was even an email from the shared office that the office would close at 3pm on Friday, basically telling us not to go in to office. Ok, I am very obedient. I happily and quietly WFH on Thursday and Friday.

Daddy Lim had to work hard to bring home the bacon. The shipyard doesn't sleep. We agreed to meet at Jem/ Westgate to only see hoards of people. Obviously we weren't the only ones who started Christmas celebrations early. We ended up having dinner at Toby's. It is OK, we are simple food people. 

On Saturday morning, Daddy Lim brought the 2 kids for aggro skating class while I go chased after some 包 with the WWF. 

I fell during the ride. It was such a silly fall. 

We were at the light and it had just turned green. I had my left foot unclipped and was trying to balance without coming to a complete halt bcos I was lazy. Just when I was sure that we were rolling off, the cyclist in front of me came to a complete stop. I tilted my handle bar right to avoid his wheel and in doing so, shifted my weight to the right and I flopped onto my right, with my right foot still clipped in bcos I don't know how to unclip my right foot. Palm-face.

Luckily I wasn't the last rider (the last 2nd one). Unluckily, other than the last rider, nobody knew that I had fallen and had rolled off. Luckily again that the last rider was a big size guy bcos I couldn't get up with the bicycle still on my right foot and the foot still clipped in. He hauled me up, allowing me to unclip and free myself. Other than a small scratch on my knee, I was fine, only my ego was badly bruised. I was glad that there were no other cyclists or cars to witness my silly act. So stupid. 

Nana went out with her friends in the afternoon. Zaky was happy to stay at home to game. Daddy Lim and I had lunch on our own and did some shopping. He needed a hair cut; he always need a haircut. Lol. I have barely seen his hair longer than crew cut. Then we saw this on sale. 

Daddy Lim pleaded with his puppy eyes to buy this super expensive shower foam.

This shower foam bought back funny memories. Many, many, many moons back, we were at Auntie H's place for playdates and these playdates usually include a bath where the kids would had fun in their big bathroom. We heard giggles and laughters and to our horror, they had used up a good half bottle of Auntie H's expensive rainbath, and innocently claiming that they wanted to wash the toilet. Nana totally remembered the incident and the aroma brought back all these memories. Oh yes, Auntie H's toilet ended up very sweet smelling. Lol. 

We were back in Jem again and this time, we managed to find decent food bcos we were early. 

The evening was so cool and windy. Nana and I took a moment to enjoy on the beach chairs. I told Nana that I could totally take a nap if I had a blanket. 

Did we countdown? Of course not lah. Daddy Lim was in bed before 9pm. By 9.30pm, I was about to doze off and went to lala land when tucking Zaky to bed. I don't know what time I crawled back to my bed. The next time I checked time, it was already 1am. Merry Christmas! Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

Preparing for New School Year

This is the time of the year where the hand-me-down textbooks get exchanged and the unused assessment books and exam papers get passed down.

I have a big bag of books to pass on and Mochi got very excited with the Ikea bag. 

This bag not only contains the P6 books that Zaky is passing down, but some of Nana's sec 1 textbooks that Zaky would not be using. SST is weird, there is no FCE (or home econ as we used to call it). There is also no need for geography, literature and social studies textbooks. I am not sure if they totally do away with some of these subjects or solely rely on notes. Even the science textbooks are optional. 

Zaky and I made an appointment yday to purchase his books and uniform. 

Without the car, we are intending to lug the books in the school bags, like school children. 

I thought we would be done quickly, having booked a 9.30am appointment. Then we missed a bus. We literally saw it coming and leaving from across the road. Then the bus driver accidentally didn't stop at our stop when alighting and we had to walk a stop back. Late... 

Fortunately the bookshop wasnt particular about us sticking to the appointment. The bookshop was fairly empty too. Zaky could use most of Nana's books for the subjects that he needed textbooks and we only needed the Chinese workbooks. We spent $72 and majority on files and exercise books and note pads. He better uses those "extras". I hated it when the school asks that we buy them and they ended up not needed/ used. Zzzzz. 

Then, hopping next door to the uniform shop. Popo has warned that I must purchase extras bcos she doesn't want to rush the washing. Don't ask me why but she insisted that it is easier and "faster" to hand-wash the uniform but they take forever to drip dry and she whined about uniforms not drying in time. What is so troublesome about the washing machine? Haiz. 

Anyway, with Popo's warning, we bought 2 sets of PE attire, 3 sets of uniform and 1 long pants. We were told that during covid peak days, the students can wear PE attire on PE days but with the new year, they may revert to bringing PE attire to change on PE days. These cost $127! I hope he doesn't outgrown his uniform next year. 

To minimise the possibility, I got bigger sizes. Any bigger, he would be wearing a dress. Haha. Zaky got to try and wear over at the shop. I made him try proper at the school thereafter so that we can exchange if need be.

Yes, SST doesn't have a traditional uniform top but offers a polo tee top. I am sure this is much more comfortable. Boys must wear long pants on Mondays and to their preference for long pants or berms on the rest of the days. This applies to all levels. I thought it is a good arrangement given how warm Singapore is. Zaky was whinning the moment he wore the long pants. The SST jacket looks really great but was out of stock. Zaky will never need a jacket. He rarely needed one in the cold and wind howling Melbourne and what is a little aircon in Singapore? Nana is eyeing the jacket instead and asked that he buys one when school reopens. 

We are all done for Zaky and ready for the 1st day of school. The whole books and uniform purchase took the entire morning. 

Nana's arrangement is a lot easier. Her books were purchased online and delivered to our home. I was told by Aunty J and S that the sec 3 textbooks cost a bomb bcos they  covered 2 years. I had been asking Nana to ask her senior for their used textbooks like what I used to do when I was in secondary schools. Did it happen? Of course not. Kids nowadays cannot open their mouth to ask for such. I almost thought about buying 2nd hand from Carousell but it didn't happened either bcos her booklists say that she needed either new syllabus or some digital bundle. Zzzzz. We ended up spending over $200 on her books. The only silver lining? Nana has been wearing the same sets of uniform since sec 1 and looks like she would be able to fit in them all the way to end of her secondary years. We only needed to replace the cheaper PE attires. 

With that, we are all ready for the new school year. Zaky's new books have been sorted and packed nicely. I didn't dare to look into Nana's room. Her old books/ notes were in a pile and I wasn't sure what she wanted to do with them. With the new books, I now see a 2nd pile. Hmmm... well, she has 1 week to school reopens. 

Mummy Lim

Mochi, Mochi

It had been more than a week since we adopted Mochi. He has moved from his small landed property to high-rise condo. It is official, I now take more photos of Mochi than humans. Hoho. 

Aunty J says that Mochi is a baby and so confident. Ah.. so the willingness to explore = confidence. I thought it was an all cats thing. The adaption is starting to get better too, including Popo, who now remembers to close the kitchen and toilet door more often than not. 

Mochi's appetite continues to be good, preferring his wet to dry food. He finishes his meals most of the times and gets extra kibbles on ad hoc basis. Why do we think to feed him extras? He chewed a hole in the kibble bag and gobbled up the few kibbles that we gave him. We all need a snack, don't we? 

We found out new things about him as he finds out new places in the house. He likes the laptop, maybe bcos of the heat. This is Mochi supervising me as I worked.

Nana decided that she would study and do her work in the living room too bcos she also wanted Mochi's supervision. Lol. 

We thought that Mochi may hate his cage but he seems very comfortable.

At times, still groggy from his naps, he doesn't even come out when we leave the cage wide open. 

He spends his nights in the cage for now and also when Popo needs to do her routine cleaning. We used to worry about Mochi zooming everywhere and going into forbidden places (e.g toilets) when he is out. As he gets to know our place more, we see less of that. He is happy lying on the floor. 

Or sunning and watching the world goes by in the balcony. The balcony cat mesh is a great investment. 

He recently found a new hiding spot - underneath the sofa. This is what we are left of our cat. Sometimes even less or nothing.

I don't know what is so nice about the underside of the sofa but he can spend a lot time there. 

Unlike the initial days, we now sometimes forget that he is out. Then we try to look out for him (when we remember) to make sure that he is still in the house and safe. Yes, he is very stealth, such that I kicked him 2x bcos he is so quiet and fast and not observing the "by right" walking paths. Running into the kitchen and balcony glass doors continued to be the other problem. He reminds me of the times when Zaky was much younger. Hoho. 

A few days ago, the nail clipper, shampoo and ear cleaner arrived. It was a family operation to clip his nails. I had to hold him, Daddy Lim clipped his nails and Nana distracted him with a treat. Mission completed. 

We only realised how sharp his claws are. The immediate effect was apparent. He doesn't scratched me (accidentally) and he suddenly found that he couldn't grip as well when trying to ninja the sofa. Hoho. 

His ears were cleaned as well. I don't know if I did it the right way, but I assumed it is done for the week. The cat shampoo is still looking at us, daring us to use it. Not my job, my job is to clear the black gold. Daddy Lim and Nana are summoning their courage. I suggest more goggling and YouTube watching. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

Happy Birthday Daddy Lim

Daddy Lim's 45th bday nicely fell on a Sunday this year but everybody was busy. Zzzz. Daddy Lim had to work, Nana went to church and spent the afternoon with her youths. Even Zaky went on a Wild Wild Wet play date with his primary school mate. I was the only one with no program. What did I do? Clean Puffy's cage and changed out Mochi's litter. Zzzzz. 

Daddy Lim came home  in the early afternoon and we decided to head to JP for lunch. Just us, no kids. 

We really need to start learning to do things on weekends without the kids. Bcos we haven't learnt, we ended up doing what we do best - grocery shopping. Hoho. Then to get new glasses for Daddy Lim. 

Speaking of glasses, 我真的不懂. I don't understand how their glasses can spoil so easily and need to be replaced almost wvery year. Each pair of their glasses cost at least $500 bcos they are all blind bats. My old flower off the shelf glasses are only $15 and served me very well the past months. 

Then we rushed off to buy a cage for Mochi. While the intention is to allow him to roam freely, we see the need to confine him sometimes. We decided to get him a big cage, so that he would have enough space when he needs to be confined. 

真的很大 hor. Ya, I know our house looks like a pet shop now. Hohoho. We had originally wanted to get Mochi one of those super nice wooden cat condo but those are much smaller and expensive. We have no idea how long Mochi would be willing to stay in the cage and decided to save our pockets. 

At least we got to eat dinner together as a family at our favourite Korean restaurant.

There must be bday cake right? So we finished off with ice cream, cake and waffle. 

Happy 45th bday Daddy Lim.

Let's grow old together and have many more interesting adventures without the kids. Hohoho. 

Mummy Lim