New Garmin Forerunner 55

I actually like my Garmin Vivoactive Element 3 watch very much. The shape, size, color, aesthetic are all right. The screen is colorful and bright and the touch screen is so easy to use. I like it so much that I even bought the same model for Zaky, when he needed a replacement and the model was on sale. 

This Vivoactive Element is one of the lower ends of the Garmin watches. I didn't need a powerful watch anyway, largely to tell time and record my gym activities. I figured out shortly why the model is so cheap - the battery life sux. It is so bad. 

When I 1st got the watch, I had to set it in the best way possible for battery saving. It served me alright, needing a charge every couple of days. I can live with that. Then, in the last few months, the battery life becomes erratic. A full charge can sometimes only last 1 night and I ended up charging the watch every day or worse, 2x a day. Zzzzz. There is no way to track sleep anymore bcos it was always charging in the night. 

I lived with it, until I cannot anymore. I bought the watch in July 2020. I think it has served its time. The last straw came when it was fully charged and an hour later, the battery dropped to 17%. I read and bcos it is such a cheap watch, there is no point trying to change the battery. Sounds that I am better off with a new watch. Hoho. 

I like Garmin. I had switched from fitbit bcos I found fitbit so boring but so hardy. Lol. Like the typical me, I 不舍得 to spend a lot on a watch and finally got a Garmin Forerunner 55. It is again one of the lower end watches and no touch screen but the battery is supposed to last for days! 

I chose this largely for the round clock face. It definitely takes some getting used to and to remember what all the different buttons are for. The 1st treadmill activity has been recorded and it looks good so far. Hoho. 

I am not the only one with "new" stuff. We have finally switched Mochi's litter fully. He was using this pellet (from SPCA days) that breaks down when wet and it stinks as the days go by. I was recommended this Atas cat litter (seriously ttas is the brand name) by a colleague with many cats. 

We were supposed to switch Mochi slowly and finally after 3 weeks, he is fully on the new litter. 

The sand clumps up when wet and I can easily scoop up and remove the clumps and poo poo. Very easy. No smell. I like. The only problems are how fast the litter is used up and Mochi kicking little sand out when he tries to cover his tracks. Nevertheless, I am sticking to this. 

The only person who didn't have "new" thing is Nana. She lost her phone yday. She thinks she left it in the toilet. We bought the Samsung S20FE in November 2021. Zzzzz. The kids had thought that Singapore is so safe and had been leaving their phone, wallet, belongings anywhere. She had "lost" her phone a few times and was able to find it bcos some kind soul either left it where it was or sent it to the lost and found. She had thought that everybody is so kind. Unfortunately not and she has learnt her lesson this time. 

We went through the trouble to replace her sim card but she has to use one of the old phones and opted for Zaky's old oppo phone. I duno if that phone still functions well; I will hear about it at the end of the day. She will have to live with the phone until her birthday. She has to learn to keep her things properly. 

Mummy Lim

A Pack CNY 2023

With the covid restrictions coming to an end, we aren't the only ones busy with CNY. For many years before covid, we used to make use of the CNY long weekend to travel. We have tried Malaysia and Batam and were part of the immigration jam crowd, both on land and sea. Covid has definitely trained me well and I didn't feel that I must travel even with the 4 days' break. Interestingly, this CNY isn't any less exciting than the ones when we traveled. 

It all started with Reunion Dinner at our place on Friday night. The CNY 不能少的 steamboat. 

Daddy Lim was stuck at work and didn't join the dinner and family photo. I was very nice and left him a big bowl of food. He was well fed. 

On CNY Eve, and the only morning where it didn't rain, Daddy Lim headed to the ECP skatepark with the kids while I went for the usual morning WWF ride. 

Then, the rain started in the afternoon and it didn't stop. T.T

We had Reunion Dinner at Nainai's place and I forgot to take photo. Hoho It was steamboat no. 2 and there is never too much of steamboat during CNY. 

On 初一, Daddy Lim managed to get an off day from work. We had intended to ride but eventually decided to skate at Kallang only to have the rain spoilt all plans. We had round 3 of Reunion Lunch at Daddy Lim's aunt's place. She used to arrange for the extended family to come and visit separately on CNY eve and 初一. This year, it was all-in-one. 

This is the one of the few times that I have seen all (almost) of Daddy Lim's extended family under 1 roof. 

Daddy Lim's cousins are much younger and a few of them have just started their family. Nana and Zaky are the big jiejie and gorgor of the pack. 

One of the little ones wasn't too pleased to be awoken just for the group picture. Then, the littlest was made to "smile". Lol, kena bullied siol.

The last stop of the day was dinner at my brother's place. Ya, I realised that I haven't really stop feasting since Christmas. Lol. 

The girls decided to show that they didn't eat that much actually and had their "6-pack" to prove. Hoho. 

The kids had a sleepover at my brother's place. I took the opportunity to use the laptop to download and saved the hundreds of photos into the hard disk. Yay! Spring cleaning for my phone.

On 初二, I was hoping to go skating at the Jurong Lake Garden but of course it was 下雨-ing. With Daddy Lim at work and the kids at my brother's place, I was so bored that I decided to go window shopping at JE, even when most of the shops were closed. 

Nana had invited her youths to 拜年 in the afternoon. While she had managed to convince Popo, it was a painful event bcos Popo became more and more grouchy as the evening progressed. I just wanted to get out of the house or hide in the room. I told Nana that the next time she invites her friends over, either only popo or I am home. It is too painful. 

This was Daddy Lim and my shared dinner bcos we didn't want to stay home and there weren't many stalls open. This special mee goreng cost us $9. 

I had arranged to go for a ride this morning. At 5am rain check, a fellow cyclists sent us the weather forecast and called off the ride. 

The rain cloud was so big that the whole Singapore was hidden. Luckily we didn't ride bcos it started raining soon after and it just didn't stop. Zzzzz. Nana and I ended up doing some morning shopping instead. She needed to get a birthday gift for her bestie Boo. 

Yes, the Chan Family is back for CNY visitation. Not only did she bought presents, she got herself a dress too on mummy's account. She is not a dress girl but realised that all her friends are so well dressed up this CNY. 

Our last CNY celebration was the SHSS gathering at Ms Teo's place. We were supposed to buy McD chicken nuggets but were told that there was simply too much food and to just go empty handed. I at least brought snacks. Hoho. 

Just nice for our hungry tummies. The food was all set up when we arrived. We were the latest to arrive as we had to wait for Daddy Lim to knock off and we are from the faraway Jurong. 

As usual, we had a good time catching up. The kids were bored at times as they were left to self entertain and the rain didn't help. 

Another 全家福, without the hubbies. Hoho. 

Finally, the end to the celebration and time to properly diet. Hoho. It was fun and a better CNY that I have experienced since a long time. Huat ah!

Mummy Lim

Sold! No Scammers this Time

I previously blogged about the scammers' attempts after I posted Nana's old ice skates on Carousell. Then it was silence. I know ice skates aren't the easiest to sell. I took a long time when looking for a pair of Edea skates for Nana, then asking the seller a ton of questions. Hoho. 

Then there was 1 enquiry and the person made an offer but gone quiet after I told the person that we are in faraway Jurong. Got so far meh? Lol. 

I wasn't hopeful when I received another enquiry. Like the 1st one, she is currently skating in Kallang. She didn't have many questions and didn't even need to try the skates. She asked for a lower price and was willing to travel to Lakeside to meet me and collect the skates. Too good to be true? 

It wasn't a scam. It was COD. The buyer turned up on time on Friday afternoon. It was a teenage girl who had just started skating in Kallang. I also duno what she saw in Nana's Jackson bcos there are other cheaper and lower end pairs on sales in Carousell. Maybe she did her homework and know that this Jackson Freestyle will last her a long time? Nana mastered her single Axle in this pair. 

Sold! $130! We got these in December 2018 for $520. She used them until her new (2nd hand) Edea Chorus skates in May 2021. 

As we sold/ gave away Nana's ice skating stuff, a little of my heart went with it too.

Mummy Lim

Mochi Health Check

When we brought Mochi home, we were told that Mochi needs to have his monthly check at the vet until he is 12 months old. In a wink of eye, we had Mochi for more than a month. Ya, we are late, we haven't given him his monthly fleas/ ticks medication too. We had been busy/ lazy. At least we kept up with his weekly/ biweekly nail trim and ear clean. We also gave him his 1st bath, which is another story for another day. 

We finally got down to making an appointment and brought him to a vet nearby yday. Mochi is a house cat and never get the chance to exit the house except for the time he came home from SPCA and another occasion where Nana let him escaped the house. I almost had a heart attack then. 

So Mochi is foreign to his portable bag. 

He didn't look too pleased. 

We were the only patient at the clinic. The clinic was manned by a female vet and a few other female nusrses/ staff. Mochi charmed them all and every single sentence was punctuated with somebody exclaiming how cute Mochi is. Ikr. He has those Puss in Boots eyes. 

The regular checkup was done faster than the registration procedure. We got to know that there isn't a need for monthly checkup but an annual one. The next one can be done when we bring him back for his annual vaccination in October. 

Mochi weighs 3.8kg. He was below 2.5kg when we brought him home. No wonder we all think that he has grown bigger and heavier. Daddy Lim said that eveybody in our household grows fat, people, cat, hamster. T.T, 

Mochi is all good except that the vet can feel poop in his tummy bcos he didn't poo poo yday and got me all worried. I didn't even worry this much when my own kids are constipated now. Lol. He also had an upper baby canine that is shaky and should drop on its own or medical procedure would be needed in the future. He is missing one lower canine but it is unlikely to affect him much. He was so well-behaved in the clinic  even when the nurse helped to feed him the deworm pill. Everyone was smittened by him.  

With that, we ended our 1st official vet visit and were $75 poorer. Mochi took the visit well and wasn't at all traumatise. He also finally popped. Hoho. It is probably rare to find somebody so happy to clean sh*t. 

How is the adaption getting along? Popo still gets very upset when Mochi gets into rooms/ areas that he isn't supposed to be. Somebody should just learned the habit of closing door. We are ok. He is just a curious cat and is happy to exit the room/ area after he had completed his thorough inspection. This applies to Puffy too. 

We have moved Puffy from the top of the shelf to the floor bcos Mochi tried to murder his once by toppling his cage to the floor. It was our 1st time hearing Puffy hissing in anger. Fortunately, Puffy is still fine. We have also moved my Harry Potter lego to other part of the shelf bcos Mochi has killed many of the characters, pawing them around. He didn't even spare Potter. Haiz. 

While he is an active boy, he also spends a lot of time sleeping. 

His favorite spots changed from time to time. The recent one is under my work desk and he napped there for several hours yday. Good life, I also want. 

We are enjoying Mochi and we hope that he feels likewise. 

Mummy Lim

Late Days

With Zaky entering secondary school, he gets to enjoy late days as well. For this term, he has 2 late days per week, starting school 1 hour later than usual, at 8.40am. 

On usual days, he would leave the house at 6.30am with jiejie, hitching a ride from Daddy Lim to the MRT. Then the kids would take the train to Clementi together before switching to different buses. 

The late days started for him this week and I got to travel with him bcos I was heading to the office. He told me that it usually takes him 40 mins to get to school and we planned to leave the house at 8am on Monday. 

Then I got anxious. We should make some time buffer right? So we attempted to leave 10 mins earlier which resulted in me rushing him non-stop. He was just very chill with me asking him to hurry up, 快点, walk faster. Aiyo. We only boarded the train at 8.06am and I was worried that he might be late. He didn't look at all worried. Chey. He eventually made it to school at 8.33am. Phew.

Today, both the kids have late days. Nana starts at 8.30am while Zaky starts 8.40am. The difference? Nana hates even the thought of being late and was out of the house at 7.25am; Zaky just got out of bed. I was again rushing Zaky out of the house and we made it barely at 7.45am. He is again very chill. 

He purposely inched forward to look taller in the picture. Hoho. This time, he was definitely in time. 

School has started and so has homework. Fighting!

Mummy Lim

NH Sec 3 Camp

Nana had been so excited about the camp. She finally got down to packing on Sunday evening. With Popo's instructions, she ended up with many, many plastic bags, like every other shirt/ short is in a plastic bag. I had thought that she is independent enough but apparently not. 

Of course I had to help her. I cannot tahan seeing my daughter going to a school camp with so many plastic bags. We managed to squeeze everything into a big haversack and a backpack (for day activities). If I hadn't helped, I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up with multiple bags too. 

I don't know how she managed to lug the 2 bags to school but she did and claimed that it is the norm (for multiple bags) for school camps. She said that she had seen worse in her seniors previously. Then it was peace and quiet for 3 days. 

It wasn't a big deal for us. Nana is no stranger to sleepover but the parent Sec 3 chat was buzzing non-stop. Having their kid away may be a rare occurrence for some and thus the outpour of anxieties, curiosity and excitement. Then, there are "paparazzis" and "mamarazis" in the chat and there was 1st night update in the chat.

Day 2 morning updates too. 

Night 2 was the campfire and we got more updates. I have no idea how do these resourceful parents get these pictures. 

The final morning. 

Nana is a sucker for such camps. I had imagined her rumbling non-stop once home about how much fun the camp was. 

She was home after lunch. I was right about the fun part but she was exhausted and didn't know where to start in relating the amount of fun. It was way too much. It is OK, I already got the updates from the parents chat. I was also young once and did such camps too. I know. Hoho. 

This morning, I asked if she had a good night sleep on her precious bed. Confirm. No more squeezing with your mates on hard floor (with sleeping bag) and aircon! Lol. 

Mummy Lim

SST Badge Day - This Is Our Call, We Rise Above All

Yday marked the end of Zaky's week long orientation. He came home exhausted on the 1st day and complained that he walked so much. Day 2 was better and he was able to demonstrate the cheer he learnt. On Thursday, he said that it was badge ceremony rehearsal day and it was so boring. Nevertheless, there were games and plenty of cheering and was losing his voice. 

It was fun. He likes SST. Yay!

So what is this Badge Ceremony? 

I figured out that it is the "school badge" presentation day. I do like their school motto. Parents were invited. 

I managed to make it out of the house at about 5pm. Then, I missed bus 185 again. I was barely at the bus stop, at about 5.15pm when Zaky called to ask where I was. He said that most of his classmates' parents had arrived. Wah, they early my fault wor. The invite stated 5.30pm. But I was late of course, arriving at about 6pm. I wasn't the latest. 

Zaky was anxiously waiting for my arrival. I felt so important. Then he nicely collected and served me dinner. We were served bento set in the classroom. While I rushed my dinner, he told me about the CCA fair in the afternoon and that he had indicated his interest for basketbal. He finally met J (Nana's skating mate). J is also the basketball captain. He also pointed out who are the ones whom he usually hung out with, including J (another J), who is also his group mate during the Round 2 selection. 

The parents were invited to the MPSH shortly (not that shortly but bcos I was late). I had to ask Zaky to help me with the bento dinner. The MPSH got aircon! It was such a hot day. 

The Badge Ceremony started with opening speeches. Then the teachers and students marched in class by class. 

Then funny pictures from the camp. It is either the photographer likes Zaky's class or there are too few classes, Zaky made it onto the big screen several times. That's my boy!

As suspected, the students went up the stage one by one to collect the school badge. Zzzz. The whole presentation took about 1 hour. No wonder Zaky complained about the rehearsal being boring. I felt him. Most of the parents were switched off and on their gadget, paying attention only when it was their kid's turn. I was like that and it was a long wait for Zaky, bcos he was in the last class. 

Fortunately the cohort is only about 200 people else 1 hour wouldn't be enough. Each class consists of about 5 to 8 girls out of about 20ish students, which I heard is an improvement already from previous years. 

I luckily brought my laptop and got some work done while waiting. 

Zaky's class received thunderous applause. Not that his class is that popular but we were all glad that the ceremony was over. Lol. The ceremony ended with the school anthem, which I thought was meaningful. I like. 

This is the badge that is so hard earned. 

Daddy Lim and Nana came to pick us up, showed us 2 pictures and asked us to find them. Escape Room ah? 

We found them and celebrated the night with ice cream at Sunset Way. It was my treat to Zaky for accomplishing the mission of making new friends and have recess/ lunch with his new friends. Wasn't too tough a mission apparently. 

I think we made the right choice with SST. While there is no principal talk to tell us how strong SST is academically like what I heard when Nana got into NH, the impressive orientation camp implied that they are "there". I think Zaky will have a lot of fun in SST and I hope that he enjoys SST as much as Nana with NH. Secondary school years are the best years in my opinion. I made friends who stayed with me to date. Can't ask for more from my secondary school years.

Mummy Lim