Not so Stress

Nana is almost a free soul! She has completed majority of her papers yday!

The O level paper planning is so bad. She has 2 more paper 1s (chemistry and physics) to go and those are taking place next Friday. I duno why the long break. In between, there are papers for Chinese, higher Chinese, higher Arts.. yada, yada… Why can’t they just let the mainstream students complete the papers 1st? They should suffer together as a cohort? 

Anyway, Nana has already tasted freedom. She was busy scrolling yday and into the late night. She has downloaded tik tok and seems bend to catch up on lost social media time. I was so tempted to invite her for supper simply for celebration but I withheld bcos we both needed to watch the waistline. She then drew her curtains and proclaimed that she will sleep in this morning. While she said that she would continue doing practices in prep of her last 2 papers, what I heard this morning and afternoon was the TV and the videos on her phone. Lol. She does deserved a rest. 

Zaky is even less stressed. He has started his school holiday last Friday. He said that he wanted to sleep in on the 1st day of school holiday but eventually went for his Aggro skating class and had such a spectacular fall while attempting a 540 jump. 

From the pictures, he did a great leap, aided by the slope and his speed, then lost focus of what he wanted to do while mid air, did some crazy gibberish before falling at great height and landed on his butt. The impact was so great that he was stunned (and so were the people who witnessed his fall) and he took a while to recover. Other than a blue black on his butt, the impact hurt his leg and he had trouble walking for a couple of days. Luckily he wasn’t otherwise too badly hurt and had been very much enjoying his holidays. 

Mochi seems to be better too. The doctor had suggested Feliway, which is supposed to help calm cats. At 1st, we were very skeptical about Mochi being stressed. With what ah? Whenever we tried applying the cream on his bald spots, he would start licking those exact spots and we can only pray that the cream doesn’t kill him. We ended up giving him catnip to sooth and distract him. 

A very high Mochi. 

We finally bought Feliway and it really improved the situation. He started hiding less, walk calmly around the house more and do his usual “flop anywhere as and when he likes”. More importantly, he started rubbing our legs again and purring more. The old Mochi is back! 

We also tried to give him boxes to hide. He isn’t the biggest fan though. 

He is still grooming, like all cats do and did look like it is slightly better. The big nasty bald spot at his tummy seems to be recovering. At least he isn’t licking it as much. Just now, we saw new spots on his leg. Zzzzz.. it will take time; he will get better. 

As to why he is stressed, the only suggestion is the his favourite person was very stressed over O levels. Now that she is better, he should too. Lol.

Mummy Lim

Mochi is Becoming Botak

Probably about more than a month’s back, we spotted red angry spots on Mochi in a small area at his lower torso. They must be itchy bcos he ended up grooming that spot a lot and there was a tiny bald batch. We got some spray from the pet shop and it helped. The bald spot soon recovered. 

After that episode, Nana commented that Mochi seems to be grooming a lot more. Over grooming is not a good sign. We then saw new bald spots that are rough to touch and suspected ringworm or fleas. FYI, ringworm is a type of fungi infection and not actual worms. To eliminate flea (or to kill them if really fleas), we have been faithful with the monthly medication. The over grooming persisted and the bald spots continued to grow. 

After our attempts failed to curb the disease problem/symptoms, we reckoned that it is time to bring him to the vet. Daddy Lim had the honor to bring Mochi alone bcos I was stuck at a work event, 

They came home with a couple of creams and sprays, costing us $157. Zzzzzz. The doctor said that it *may* not be ringworm bcos ringworm glows under UV light but his doesn’t. If it is fleas, the medication that we gave him would have killed them. It could be allergies (again? To what?) or stress?!!! I duno why is Mochi stressed, we didn’t change anything drastic to his routine, he doesn’t go to work or school and not taking the O levels. Lol. 

In other words, his botak condition is just as mysterious as his leaking eyes, which still persist today but fortunately more good than bad days. Why did I think that it is easier with cats than dogs? Zzzz. We joked about how resilience the strays in the neighbourhood are and maybe we should send Mochi downstairs to learn from the strays for a few months. 

The doctor had suggested that we do more to relieve Mochi’s stress, like increasing his hiding spots, or this diffuser that is supposed to calm cats. Ok, shopping time. Some articles said that all cats like boxes but not Mochi leh. 

Anyway, maybe Mochi is really stressed, we found him hiding under the table, away from us, a lot more. 

When I scratched him this morning, he wasn’t purring too. Then he continued to over groom. 

I bought him a collar, but he hated it so much and managed to wiggle out. Maybe it will add on to his stress and so I didn’t insist that he wears it.  

We found a new big bald red patch yday, on his tummy. 

Poor Mochi, poor us. It will take time. Maybe bcos we haven’t been spending enough time with him recently and he is revenging against us. Sob.

Mummy Lim

Happy 14th Birthday, Zaky!

Zaky turns 14 yday. In a normal year, this would be a fantastic time for celebrations with EOY exams done and school holiday right around the corner. 

Unfortunately, there is no big celebration. It is not him, it is Nana, who is now right smack in her O levels papers and mugging away. We did have our ceremonial cake and dinner though. 

We got him a cake to bring to Youth. Why did he have to bring his own cake? His youths bought him one the previous week but he skipped Youth, opting to go sleepover at Auntie H’s house with T and feast over BBQ. Hoho. 

He said that he did the bday song, the candle blowing, the cake cutting and they had a small piece of cake, intending to bring the remaining to round 2 at one of the Youth’s place. Then, mysteriously, the cake went missing. Zzzz. At least they have done the ceremonial stuff. 

We had a good dinner on Sunday bcos Nana said so. The one who is undergoing the major exam has a bigger say than the bday boy. We went to Colin’s. 

I had imagined the portions to be bigger but the cheese burger looked so tiny in Daddy Lim’s hands. We ordered enough to fill hungry tummies though. 

We can’t help but to compare the father and son bcos of Zaky’s new hairstyle.

Same, same or different? 

Last evening, we did the cake cutting. 

The family picture. The one with Mochi is with Zaky’s phone. Mochi must be 赌神 bcos he wriggled so much to escape the picture taking.

Happy 14th bday, Zaky! May you continue to grow in the Lord and also to grow tall and strong (physically). May your hair grow too. Lol. We love you to the moon and back. 

Mummy Lim

Oktoberfest @ Paulauner

This time it was Auntie YF who jio-ed. I have never been to an Oktoberfest and am not anywhere near a beer lover. But, why not? Uncle C and Daddy Lim were invited too.

Oktoberfest must be a big thing in Paulauner bcos the place was full despite the event running over several weekends. Auntie YF kindly helped us made a reservation for 6.30pm. There is a minimum spend of $40 per person accumulative. 

I had an appointment earlier in the pm for a corporate headshot picture taking, paid for by the company. The experience is….. tiring, more tiring than work. Lol. I was given a full makeup and get to keep the nice makeup for the dinner date. 

Taking full advantage and 多拍几张.

Auntie YF and Auntie S ordered a pint each, Auntie H bought a litre of beer to share with Uncle C. Only Daddy Lim ordered the unlimited beer package at $48. He can have free flow beer from 6 to 8pm and had to drink 3 pints to break even. What did I have? Coke. Muahahaha. I left the food ordering to the aunties bcos I left my glasses in car. Hoho. 

The beer was served 1st. 

Daddy Lim said that it tasted like barley. It only tasted bitter to me. Cheers! 

It was a long wait before the food was finally served. There was a lot of meat and very yummy. I like meat.

The band played their 1st set in the main restaurant on the 2nd floor. Our table was on the 3rd floor. Despite the band playing duno what German songs, the crowd, especially those in the main restaurant, was 自high-ing. 

We left the restaurant at about 9pm. Did Daddy Lim break even on the beer? Yes! Especially with Auntie YF’s help. Overall, it was a good experience and the food was good. We spent about $75 per pax, which is fairly expensive for a dinner IMO, luckily we didn’t bring the kids. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

Zaky Cut His Hair for the 3rd Time

Zaky didn’t get his hair “repaired” on Monday. It was pushed to Wednesday and he lived with his messy durian head for another 2 days. 

On Wednesday, he went with his friends to a home barber manned by a 17 YO, who is the friend of a friend of a friend. He paid $10 for this. 

Ah yes said that he should just gone to one of those QB houses and paid a few bucks more. Or consider buying his own shaver to do this himself with YouTube. Zaky argued that QB house doesn’t know how to do fades. Huh? What fade? Lol.

Anyway, Zaky now looks so much cleaner and neater. I don’t know how much maintenance this look required. I don’t think I want to buy a shaver. Can he just utilise those gel and hair spray that we already bought? Haha. Don’t waste.

Mummy Lim

JB with Girlfriends

For our October monthly gathering, we decided that it would be a day trip to JB. While this means having to take leave for some of us, nobody mind. The date had to be pre-planned and 16 Oct was the chosen day. 

Auntie SR helped to book the train tickets. Auntie H suggested the day’s itinerary - eat, massage, shop and eat somemore. We were on our way! 

Uncle C sent Auntie H, Auntie S and me from the 6th Ave MRT to the Woodlands Train Station. The other gang came from the Sengkang/ Punggol side.

It was already crowded when we arrived at 9am and a short wait before the gate opened for immigration. Whatever happened in the next 30 mins was a blur; we simply moved along with the busy crowd. All were good except for a grouchy immigration officer who kept reminding the queuing crowd to lower our volume, walk faster, turn the passport to the right page, blah, blah, blah..

Nevertheless, our spirit was not dampened..

It was the first Woodlands-JB train experience for some of us. Auntie SR is the expert and we were in her good hands - just follow. 

We took the 9.45am train and arrived right on time for brunch. Auntie SR expertly led us to where the famous banana cake and good food cafes are. With hungry tummies and assurance that all the food in that area are good, we settled for the 1st cafe that we saw.

Auntie H said that the kuehs are to die for. Of course we must try and not disappointed.

We ordered many of the recommended dishes to share. We were all very happy to be able to try a little of everything and the food was really good. In total, we ordered 10 different dishes, from kuehs, to noodle soup to desserts and only paid RM20 per pax. So worth it. 

The cafe also has an old school vibes and the perfect background for picture taking. This one looks like it matches the Halloween theme though. Lol. 

It was already 11am when we made our way back to the shopping mall and had to miss the famous banana cake bcos the 1st batch was sold out and we didn’t want to wait. 

What did we do at the mall? Laser tag. I made the aunties do laser tag. Hohoho. My kids were envious.

Auntie SR was nursing a tummy ache and didn’t join in the fun. With odd number, we opted for solo game. Who won? Of course it is yours truely, after all the previous laser tag training.

The games were at RM45 for 2 games and RM55 for 3 games. Auntie TL was still double confirming that we would only do 2 games and not take advantage of the discount for 3. After 2 games, the aunties were very glad that they had earlier insisted on only 2. Lol. I think they had fun, or at least I did. We definitely all had a good workout and were perspiring after the 2 games. 

The workout called for a massage. It was so good. I had the 30 mins foot and 30 mins shoulder and head massage. So, so good.

I had thought that the trip would consist of plenty of shopping. Apparently, this doesn’t happened with a group of aunties on a day trip to JB. Ok, maybe it did, but just a different kind of “shopping”. Other than the relaxed brunch and tea, we were making very good use of the good exchange rate and busy running errands - contact lenses, medications, bread, tau sar piah, earrings, pens… There wasn’t even time to shop for clothes.

We settled for tea at about 3ish. This polo bao was of course very good and went very well with my 奶茶.

We had a good rest over food and drinks. Eating was more important than shopping for clothes. We left at almost 5pm for more last min food grabbing before heading for our 5.45pm train. I got last min roti boy and muruku. 

The train home was uneventful. We all lamented that time passed too quickly. We forgot to take our group photo before leaving. I was with auntie H, hitching a ride to the downtown line MRT while the rest headed northeast and east. 

Would we do this often? We would love too but our leave balance or the little ones at home didn’t quite agree. One day, we shall planned for a longer all aunties trip. The kind where we have to take a aeroplane. Hohoho. 

Best friends forever. 

Mummy Lim