A Bigger Gathering

With each relaxation of the covid rule, my heart does a little cartwheel. Hohoho. The possibility to be outdoor without mask is liberating, the increase of group size to 10 is well celebrated. Woohoo!

When we finally resumed the monthly gathering, it was almost an adult only affair bcos of the group size restriction. Only the tiniests of the group get the opportunity to tag along. Our last gathering on Sunday saw a not-at-all tiny addition.

Bcos it was in between church and Chinese tuition and Daddy Lim was at work. Zaky got the chance to meet all the aunties in a long time. He has absolutely grew a lot in the last 2 years; in all directions. 

It was a Terrarium making session. The uninvited Zaky took my spot. 

It was a win-win situation bcos Zaky had a lot of fun. 

I was super glad that I didn't have to manage the soil and the roots. My heart was leaping with joy when I saw Zaky doing that on my behalf. 

I was contented with pictures taking with the end product, as if I was the creator. Hahahaha. Nobody knows...

Zaky was sent in a Grab to tuition right after he has completed the Terrarium. 

I enjoyed part 2 of the gathering a lot more. We went for coffee and desserts and had plenty of catching up. One of the main discussion points was the full force gathering with the removal of group size restriction. We counted, we have 8 adults and 15 kids! More if spouses are included. It feels a little bit like old times CNY gathering at the ah man's house. 

We decided that a function room is absolutely needed. Gathering at somebody's house is as good as helping the person 拆家. I offered our function room. Hahahaha. Nobody wanted to 路途遥远 to come to our place and Auntie J's place was the choice, with ours as a backup (evil grin). 

I am absolutely looking forward to the gathering. It had been 2 years as well since I last saw some of the kiddos in person. I wonder too how the kids would react to one another. Hmmm....

Mummy Lim

New Glasses Day

It is the time again to have the kids' eyesight check. I get so nervous at these times. Not only bcos I hate spending $$ to change their glasses, I am more worried about their eyesight deteriorating. 

Nevertheless, I was prepared to change Zaky's glasses. It is not that I am OK for his eyesight to worsen but his lenses had been 2 years long with multiple scratches bcos he doesn't take care of them. Zzzzz. He had broken and changed multiple frames and the optical shop had given us free exchanges bcos they wanted us to remain loyal plus mummy made enough noises. Hoho.

The last check was in October 2021. Lil Shauna had her glasses last changed in April 2021 bcos her bad eye just refused to be tamed. Zaky's eyesight had been controlled since we changed the kids to Hoya lenses in February 2020. 

The verdict? I like Hoya. Hoho. Their degrees are both controlled. Yay!

Zaky still got to change his glasses bcos they are so scratched. The lenses are already scratched the last round we went for eye checked but I refused to spend the $$. He now complained that he cannot see clearly. The glasses are also getting more expensive. 2 years back, it was $360 per pair. It was $400 when we changed Lil Shauna's glasses in April 21. This time, it is $500! Luckily, I can claimed $400 from the Company's insurance. 

I am hoping this investment will last him for the next 2 years. As for his old glasses, we are keeping them for his aggro skating sessions. 

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 276: After Competition

Lil Shauna declared a much needed break after the competition. She deserves it and we also arranged her booster jab on the Sunday after her competition. Thus, she had the perfect reason to take a break. 

The 1st lesson after competition was on a Sunday afternoon and I had to miss it for church. Last week, I got to see her finally.

It was jump day having done her spins the previous lesson. She didn't master her double salchow jump before the competition and is still struggling with consistency. This calls for ice studying and a lot of falling. 

The rink's capacity has increased with the covid restrictions relaxation and the public ice was so crowded. It had been more than 2 years since we got to enjoy an emptier ice. I don't even remember how crowded it was before covid but at its peak, it must be more crowded than this.

I was hiding at the spectators seats initially but was chased out when the full capacity was reached. 

R & J were also in the rink. As a result, the 3 of them spent so much time leisurely skating around and round the 1/3 ice and chitchatting. Zzzzzz. It was only when R was having her lesson that Lil Shauna started working a little harder. I got her to do her broken leg spins, which she of course complained, then her double salchow. 

She managed to land several of her double slachow jumps but was telling me, after studying the ice, that it is still not right. Something about needing to be lighter and not so heavy. Huh? 

Anyway, it was great to be able to see Lil Shauna on ice again. 

Mummy Lim

Happy Birthday to Me Part 3

No lah, I didn't buy any more presents for myself. Not that I am done; I just didn't have anything in particular to want to buy now. We still have about half a month more. Hoho.

I am however very happy that it was a long weekend. This basically means an opportunity for my 2nd quarter RI. I had wanted to do 1 RI per quarter and would choose to do it before a long weekend bcos I seriously needed the long weekend to recover. Daddy Lim wasn't keen. He hasn't cycled for months and I didn't want to kill him/ burst his lungs (again) with a RI. I went ahead to plan with the WWF folks and was hoping for good weather on Thursday evening. 

It all went well and this time, nobody tried calling me at 6pm and I managed to be on time for the 7pm meetup. It was a cosy ride with 8 of us, just nice in one train with the relaxed ruling. 

Whenever some cyclists said that it would be a chill ride, don't ever believe them. We were rolling at 30+kmh all the way past Mandai and to Sinopec. Zzzzz. 

Fortunately, the pace did slow down after the 1st leg. Then I coincidentally met Auntie SL at CV and then after TMCR. Both times she called out to me bcos I was already so tired that I don't know what is happening around me. Hoho.

Our very meitu-ed photo. Hoho.

It was about 1.30am when I finally reached home. Sleep was actually difficult. I was physically exhausted but I think the adrenaline was still pumping. Yay, my 2nd RI for 2022 done, 2 more to go. 

On Friday morning, I was up at 6ish, intending to tag along to ECP skatepark for the boys' lessons. It ended up pouring and it turned into a bfast ride. The good part was that I got to do another 2 hours nap before heading out to ECP again. 

Daddy Lim finally decided to join Zaky for the class. He said that he managed to learn and figure out how to jump up the ramp better. Before class, it seems like a ritual for all the students, regardless of age, to wait quietly on the grind bar, like little birds. Hoho. 

The day ended with the ceremonial cake cutting at home. 

I know I looked freaking tired right? I was from the lack of sleep and retired to my room at 8pm. Lil Shauna happily went to the Jurong Lake Garden with the Fs and Aiko. I was drifting in and out of sleep. Old already. 

Happy 25th birthday to me!

Mummy Lim

Solo Ride to Look for the Father and Son

Two Saturdays ago, there was no WWF rides bcos it was our anniversary and we went on a bus tour outing. The boy entertained and accompanied me. It was a Sembawang heritage tour and we got to play tourist for a morning. 

It was a super hot morning. Why Singapore so hot??!! 

When Daddy Lim works on Saturday, Sunday morning becomes a skatepark morning. Like a good wife and good mummy, I tagged along. 

Last Saturday, the ride was canceled when a passing shower derailed the plan. I was already fully geared up. Zzzzzz. I contemplated a solo ride but the roads were constantly wet from the start-stop drizzle that followed. Angry. 

I really wanted to cycle bcos I have jio-ed people to do a RI last evening. I think I needed the mileage to prep. It had been a long while since the last RI. Daddy Lim had plan to bring Zaky to the Kallang skatepark. I ended up cycling to Kallang to look for the boys. 

The skatepark was empty bcos everybody had gone to ECP. 

I continued my ride to ECP skatepark and back, clocking a total of 50km. Not bad for a solo ride in a long time. 

The nice part? The bike went into the  car and I took a car ride home. Hoho.

Mummy Lim

Happy Birthday to Me Part 2

It had been a while since I wanted to buy an air fryer. We had one in the old place, which plastic had disintegrated due to prolong non-usage. We didn't replace it simply bcos the current kitchen is tiny. Then Zaky and I love fried food, and Popo happily encouraged the habit with deep fried chicken nuggets, seaweed chicken, etc. Not only are they unhealthy, the frying leaves a layer of oil stain that sticks on to everything after a while. 

The kitchen remains tiny but we have creatively found space via another shelf. Hohoho. We decided that it was time for IKEA. I found OMAR on the website and thinks that OMAR would be the savior. 

OMAR didn't come easy bcos of our stupidity. We made an empty trip to Jem IKEA bcos we didn't check the stock availability. We found OMAR in Alexander but didn't realise that OMAR comes in 2 packaging and had to make a second trip for OMAR's legs. 

As you can see, Daddy Lim humoured me bcos it is April and no demands of the Queen is too much. Hoho.

Hello, OMAR.. or half of it.

We couldn't finish the assembly bcos we didn't know how high is the air fryer. This calls for an urgent trip to Courts. Hoho. 

I had been goggling on the air fryer and finally set eyes on the Ninja bcos it comes with 2 separate pockets and much cheaper than the Philip's latest Smart fryer. No need so smart, can air fry can already. The rice cooker needs to be replaced too. Its flap cannot be held up on its own, is coated with a layer of oil stain and one side has melted bcos the kitchen is too small and it came in close contact to the stove. 

Finally! 

We still have space now. Hmmmm....

While there wasn't any deals to score this round, shopping and home improvements make me happy. Are these my bday presents? Can lah, can lah. It is April anyway and we still have more than half a month to go. Hoho. 

And my deal. Perfect for my office commute. 

I is happy. 

Mummy Lim

Happy Birthday to Me Part 1

April is a very exciting month bcos it is a month where all shopping is justifiable. Hoho. Auntie S asked what I am intending to ask from Daddy Lim. Shoes? Clothes? These are not big spending items and I can buy them myself. Then again, if it is too expensive, 我又不舍得买. Dilemma.

While I didn't know what I wanted for my bday, I do know that I needed a laptop bag. With the further relaxation of the covid restrictions, I have been going back to the office more regularly. I think there are plans to make it more permanent too. So, what I do know is how tiring it is to lug the laptop and commute. It gets worse after a long work day. My poor shoulder. 

I had been looking around and thinking if I need to splurge on a branded laptop bag. This calls for a trip down to IMM, hoping to score a deal. 

I saw the Tumi. 

I didn't like the design actually but it is heavily discounted and it is Tumi. I also considered the MK, which I then thought that it is too informal. 

Then, I saw this interesting one from Fossil.

With a lot of dismantling and then assembling, it can be converted into a shoulder sling bag but looks nicer as a backpack. It was $380 (I think) before discount and $221 after. The sales said that there is a further 40% discount if I bought 3 items, without a restriction on minimum price. 

After much looking around, I got a wallet for Lil Shauna and a coin purse to replace my disintegrating one. 

The total price? $207!!! So the 3 items had cost cheaper than just buying the laptop bag alone. Hohoho. It is one kind of happiness to do retail therapy but another when one scores a great deal. My mood totally lifted. 

Yay! Let's worry about the credit card bill when the time comes. Hohoho. 

Mummy Lim

Ouchy

Zaky was super keen for Daddy Lim to bring him to the ECP skatepark yday evening. I tagged along not to skate but to feed the mozzie. My eyes are so bad in dim lights now and I wouldn't want risk falling over scattered twigs and seeds.

The night was cooling and I had a nice time scrolling fb and playing candy crush. Hoho. This decathlon beach chair is a good buy. It is mine bcos Daddy Lim complained that it is too low/ small/ bad backing but fits me to the T. 赚到.

The best thing that happened must be getting recognised and called out by somebody that I got acquainted with many years back while walking back from the toilet with Zaky. 

I didn't even remember him (let alone his name) until he reminded about how we met. He went on to recount that it was 19 years back! Wow! That brought back the memories. He was with his gf then and now his wife. I remembered his wife clearly bcos she looked like 张柏芝. Such sweet memories. What is even sweeter is that he recognised me and said that I looked the same. Hohoho. Happy 到....

The night didn't go very well for Zaky, who was very excited to do his practices. 

Daddy Lim said that Zaky is probably too tired from the long day and night practices didn't seem like a good idea. He had 2 mega falls. The 1st, he aired and aired too much, didn't control and fell faceplant. Thank God for helmets. He literally hit his head on the hard concrete floor and said that for a few seconds, he got double visible. What the....

The second time, he didn't even know what went wrong but ended up body slamming. Daddy Lim said that Zaky was trembling when he reached him and thought that Zaky had broken a rib or something. Zaky said that the pain was very intense at the impact, so much so that it hurts to breath till the pain subsided. This one left him brawling and also signified time to go home. Daddy Lim says that the night aggro sessions are probably too much; Zaky fell multiple times too last Friday. 

Daddy Lim felt so bad for the boy and kept offering to buy him an ice cream. The crashes must be really bad. At times like that, I do regret that we made the kids go into such sports. Maybe I should have started them on singing/ drawing/ music classes when they were little, interests that wouldn't hurt themselves physically. Too late already. 

The good thing is that no bones were broken but he ended up with a bruise on his hip bone. 

Oooo... I like ro rub blue black but Zaky refused to let me. Let's shelf the Friday night sessions for now. 

Mummy Lim

Super Busy Sunday

Bcos Daddy Lim worked last Saturday (actually he didn't have to but screwed up his schedule), he had arranged for Zaky to have his aggro skate class on Sunday. This is the 1st time that I sae him do one to one lesson with Coach Nizam. 

It was the usual super early morning to ECP skatepark to avoid the sun. The lesson didn't look that intense. There was a lot of explaining, good demonstration before Zaky got to try and everytime Coach was explaining or demonstrating, Zaky was sitting somewhere. #oldman I like how technical Coach's explanation is. I overheard him telling Zaky how the body should be facing, at which point he should navigate the turn. It was a lot about control and not anyhow jump as high as one can. 

I left for my usual skating when his lesson was ending. It was a shorter set this week due to the lack of time. I came back and saw that M came! Zaky also found new friends. 

They looked so cute sitting on the grind bar, like little birds on the wire. 

Daddy Lim had to rush back to work and dropped us off at church. Physical Sunday school is resuming and I get to attend service physically too. Lil Shauna has no program and joined me for service. I was glad to have her company. After 2 long years away, it is great to have somebody to go church with. 

We had lunch after church and the plan was to head home for a rest before Zaky's Chinese tuition. The plan failed bcos there was simply not enough time. We had to head direct for tuition. The boy was so tired that he fell asleep seconds after we boarded the mrt. In times like that, the train ride felt too short. I had to wake him to get off and we had about 20 mins before class. He ended up napping on the bench at the mrt station. 

The nap was a life saver, giving him the much needed energy for the tuition. 

Mummy Lim

Last Friday Night

Last weekend had been super happening. The most happening news is that we have booked our air tickets for our Melbourne holidays at the end of the year! Woohoo! There had been so much excitement about travelling. Everybody around me is talking about some kind of traveling plans. I like. I get excited looking at the traffic built up at the 2nd Link. Hohoho.

I was in the office on Friday. Going back to the office to work seems like a reality in the near future. Auntie SL was also in the office and suddenly, we made a Friday night date. Happening siol.

Auntie SL decided to go to Timber X and after a long day at work... tadah!

We started while waiting for Auntie S to make her way from Tampines. 

The pizza, recommended by Auntie SL was good. 

Chill drinking is never my thing but it did feel fine after 2 years of non-existent night life. 

Auntie S was very kind to entertain and accommodate me for pictures without meitu. Hoho. 我们要诚实.

Timber X was nice. There was live music but we unfortunately didn't get an outdoor table. I think Daddy Lim and Lil Shauna would like the atmosphere. Zaky would be very happy with the pizza. Lol. I would bring them back. 

We left at 9ish and headed to Quay Clarke for an ice cream. Daddy Lim and the kids were heading back from ECP skatepark and nicely offered to pick me up. I was told by the aunties that we were at Central and they kindly see me to the pickup area before to the mrt.

It was at the pickup point that I suddenly felt very unwell. It started with dizziness, then the ringing in my ears, the tunneling vision and yellow shades. I knew that I was fainting; I had similar episodes when I was much younger. I also knew that I needed to sit down or risk blacking out. There I was, right by the pickup point, sitting on the floor in my short skirt. I think I got weird looks but I cannot care more. 

Daddy Lim couldn't find me and called to ask me to walk to where they were based on the GPS. I was in no state to walk and fortunately, they eventually found me. Daddy Lim said that I wasnt at Central Mall like what I had said, but was at The Central. Why so many? 

I started recovering once I was seated. The ringing disappeared and the vision returned as quickly as it had hit me. What replaced was queasiness, tummy cramp and profuse perspiration. I was dripping sweat while waiting for Daddy Lim to come save me and I was so grateful when I finally saw the car. It was shining when it turned into the driveway. 

What caused the fainting spell? Hmmm.. my guess was alcohol and dehydration. I used to have low(er) blood pressure and always lower blood counts, a thalassemic trait. 

That little adventure didn't really damaged the Friday night. I got home safely afterall. I just ended up with an early Friday bedtime and very glad that I wasn't cycling the next day. 

Mummy Lim