Mochi’s Vaccination

Mochi turned 3 in June. We adopted him from SPCA back in September 2022 when he was about 5 months old. We don’t know his exact birthday and decided that it would be 6 June. So convenient. Hoho. 

We were told by SPCA that he needed some check ups and then some jabs. We followed as told. We also brought him for his annual vaccination. His last one was in October 2023 and then he came down with this really bad cat flu 2 weeks after the vaccination. I think the cat flu wasn’t from the jab but he might have gotten the virus while in the clinic. 

There is another school of thoughts that indoor cats don’t have interactions with other (foreign) cats and thus no need for annual vaccination. True? I didn’t know but am very ready to believe given the saga after the vaccination. Moreover, Mochi gets uber stress every time we have to bring him out. Thus, we conveniently skipped last year’s vaccination. 

This year, we decided to vaccinate Mochi after SS, one of Mochi’s sitter advised us so. She was supposed to sit Mochi in June but rejected us at the last minute bcos some of her cats fell violently ill. Her cats were all indoor cats and not all of them vaccinated. They fell ill even though being indoor. We heeded her advice. 

In the midst of house shifting and traveling for leisure and work, we finally got an appointment for Mochi yday evening at the usual clinic (not the one that gave him cat flu). Mochi was very traumatised. He barely made any meows on the way to the clinic and back. 

He was also very well behaved at the clinic. He simply sat there and didn’t attempt to move. 

The vet gave him a general checkup and while his overall health is ok, she said that he has conjunctivitis, thus the teary eyes. What? We had seen the vet (a different one) in this same clinic months ago for the same ailment but weren’t told that it was conjunctivitis. Blocked ducts and allergies were suspected but both turned out -ve. We simply live with his teary eyes, that can get quite bad on some days. 

We were given eye drops and the vet demonstrated on a very tamed Mochi. He is obviously very different at home and wouldn’t sit there, tile his chin for the eyedrop. I think it is a 3-person job to give him eyedrop. 

The vet also said that Mochi has tartar on his teeth and asked if we brush his teeth. Zzzzzz.. just cutting his nails is a quest on its own. At least we feed him snacks that are supposed to improve his oral health. Can? Hoho. 

I hope the next 2 weeks will pass quickly. I think Mochi had been stressed with the disappearing furniture and the “strange” people who come to the house to either move the furniture or to view the house. When we move to Rio, he would be stressed again. Poor Mochi. 

Oh, we did manage to give Mochi eyedrop. It was a 2-person job. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

JB after Jakarta

I was back from Jakarta late on Thursday night. Then, I was in the car to the JB office on Monday morning. It was an easy ride, the car picked me up at 7am and I went to the JB office with another colleague. If it was just me, I would have headed straight to the office. The colleague suggested bfast. Sure, bcos I wasn’t intending to and didn’t have time for lunch. 

The driver brought us to this yong tau foo place that our family had visited several times with my brother’s family. With a lot of food (too much for bfast), I paid about RM30ish. Yum yum. 

We arrived at the office at 9ish and the day’s hard work started until it was time to leave at 6.30pm. The Singapore colleagues who were returning home had left at about 4.30pn; I was staying a night in JB so that I had more time. 

I stayed the night very comfortably at Holiday Inn. 

I dropped my bag and rushed off to JB City Square in search of dinner. My lunch was crackers and snacks and I was hungry. 

I wanted meat but not fast food. Yummy!

It was already 8ish. I didn’t shop, bought some cake for the office and burnt the night scrolling my phone bcos I was tired.

Of course I must make use of the gym. 

The gym is decent sized and there was only 1 other hotel guest. Though not the most willing, I got my 4.5km done while grazing at the early morning custom traffic.

The hotel has a big restaurant but the selection wasn’t matching up.

There were a lot of carbs selection. My bfast. 

Putu mayam! 

The company car picked me up at 8am and it was a busy day until 4.30pm to head home. The traffic and custom were both decent. I arrived home at about 6.15pm. 

With JB being so near, it didn’t feel like I just went for an overseas business trip. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

Project Rio Chapter 7: Cleaning Up

I was again working from Rio on Friday bcos of the dining table delivery. With the general cleaning (that isn’t very clean) by the ID done, it was a lot less dusty. There was also plumbing work at the kitchen and service yard. I had to ask the workers to help me install the washer and dryer after they were done with the plumbing work. The washer, dryer and fringe were delivered 2 weeks back, even when the renovation work was ongoing, so that we could redeem a big ass microwave as free gift. 

They agreed to help with the washer and dryer (bcos they are plumbing people) but refused to help with the fridge, claiming that they wouldn’t want the responsibility if they ever damage anything. Nevertheless, it looked like the vinyl floor got scratched anyhow; that was the area where the washer and dryer were originally placed.

On Saturday, we came with several boxes and bags to unpack. Daddy Lim and I also decided that we would attempt to shift the 90kg fridge by ourselves. Thankfully, the fridge came with wheels but trying to get it out of the box and onto its wheels was a nightmare. Luckily nobody was crushed and the fridge went into its designated spot in perfect condition. We are better than the workers, we didn’t scratch the floor. It took us a long time though, trying different ideas and a lot of sweat to achieve the end result.

Shifting house creates a lot of waste. There were so many carton boxes to throw. Each box comes with its protection stuff - bubble wraps, styrofoam and what not. We had to dispose the carton boxes for the washer, dryer, fridge, study tables on our own and half the time we were worried that we are dumping in the garbage corner that we are not supposed to. Ok, the cleaning uncle never scold us. This would be what I miss about staying in a HDB.

The painter came in the afternoon. Daddy Lim went off to run an errand. I started working on my laptop. We had to ask the painter to redo and touch up on several areas. The paint job wasn’t as well done as I had expected it to be. There were many areas above the skirting that looked like this.

Or paint onto the door frame/ window frame/ balcony glass frame or missing spots. We could also see paint specks on multiple spots on the floor. When I asked the painter, it will always be not his job or some other problem like cement/ plaster not done well. In other words, not his fault/ problem. I waited for Daddy Lim to come back to talk to him. The ID also spoke to the painter to ask him to do whatever we asked him to.

We left at about dinner time and the painter was still there. We jokingly said that he might just pack up and leave right after us. It is all “not his job/ fault” anyway.

We headed back on Sunday morning and it was a hard cleaning day. We threw away the remaining carton boxes. Daddy Lim’s role was to fix up the remaining DIY furniture while I vacuumed and mopped the house. We had once contemplated paying for after renovation cleaning service but changed our mind when it comes with a $450 price tag.

It was seriously hard work. You know how new places always have this forever dusty feeling until we moved it, walked around and dispersed the dust? Haha. It felt so much better after mopping 2x. I hope I wouldn’t find it dusty again when I next visit Rio. I was so physically tired towards the end of the mopping. Daddy Lim said that I can skip my exercise class bcos the mopping was harder work. Lol. 

We stopped for a much needed lunch and break. Daddy Lim had been eying this Korean restaurant for a while. 

The food was good and reasonably priced. We bought coke and ice cream on the way back to stock up the empty fridge. By the way, the fridge works nicely. We now have to figure out how the washer and dryer work. 

We continued with the fixing in the afternoon. I washed and scrubbed the toilets and balcony. My back! The last we did was to mesh up the metal gate and finally left Rio at about 4pm. It was so tiring. 

We haven’t found a new tenant for the current unit but are moving anyhow on 11 Aug. There are only 2 weekends remaining and I see the same tasks for both weekends. We have booked the kids for both 9 and 11 Aug. We will do a final clean up of Rio on 9 Aug and the kids are supposed to do some unpacking of their room/ stuff. 

I have started listing out the things that we needed to throw/ sell/ give away/ donate and the list keeps getting longer. Then, while packing, I will find random things to donate/ give away. I have so many listing on Carousel now. It is funny how people can have so many questions and be so picky over something that I am selling for $15 but when it is free, there are people who are willing to pick up even if it is bulky, like a study table or shoe rack. It is also amazing how fast free items get taken up. Anyhow, I am just happy that I don’t have to throw them away.

Bracing ourselves for the next 2 weekends! 

Mummy Lim

Another One to Jakarta

It had been a few months since I last visited the Jakarta office and thus I am back. It was a short 3 days trip. I love short trips. Time will pass quickly and I will soon be home. 

The flight was on Tuesday morning, at a comfortable 9.30am. Flying to Jakarta is always at a comfortable flight time. I skipped my usual DFS shopping bcos anything bought would need to be packed and move to Rio. I got a teh to start my morning instead. 

I got my aisle seat and the flight was comfortable. Bfast! 

 I took a taxi and headed to the hotel 1st, which was 5 mins walk from office. The room was thankfully ready. 

I got to finish a call that started in the car, refresh up before heading to the office. Work was alright. Back in the room, I was happy to be reminded that the hotel serves really nice mushroom soup. Hohoho. Happy! 

It was yummy even though it had cooled down when I finally got to eat it after my call. Surprisingly, sleep was easy and good. I didn’t wake up in the night like I usually do on the 1st night. In fact, I dozed off when scrolling fb. 

I was up and heading to the gym at 6ish. The sky was already bright. To gym, we must. The hotel has a nice, spacious and well equipped gym.

After 5km on the treadmill, it was freshening up and bfast. Their bfast is so good and a wide spread. 

It was another busy but manageable day. The cycle repeated itself and I had comfort convenient store food for dinner. 

When I was happily having sinful but happy food, Nana texted that we lost Mochi again. Zaky’s Chinese tutor left the door/ gate opened and Mochi escaped. Fortunately, Daddy Lim and the kids eventually found him on level 16.5. They said that Mochi was trying to hide behind a pipe that was obviously too small to hide him. I hope we brought back the right cat. Lol.

This morning, I didn’t skip gym. I did the elliptical, something that I had stopped for a long time, ever since Fitness First switched the elliptical machines that I like. The hotel gym has the machine that I like. #感动

I had such a good bfast that I told myself that I had to skip lunch. I sort of did, until 3pm when I was peckish and went to buy a scone from Starbucks. 

My flight was at 8.15pm and I left for the airport at 4.45pm bcos of the Jakarta infamous traffic. I didn’t quite know how bad the traffic was bcos I was busy on my laptop. I reached the airport safety and in time. 

I had time for a light snack before the inflight dinner. 

I was already very full but that didn’t stop me from having a 2nd dinner. The creamy chicken pasta was good!

Hoho. I was so full. 

The flight was uneventful. I am back in Singapore! Yay! 

Mummy Lim

Project Rio Chapter 6: Almost Completion and Lalamove

Last Monday, after I worked from Rio the entire day, we met the IDs in Rio, to agree on where to install the various toilet accessories. Plumbing work then continued into the night and thankfully, no complaints from the neighbours. On Tuesday, the major cleaning was done. With that, only minor works are remaining and we can start our own cleaning. 

We have the dining table delivery on 25th, TV console, cupboard and sofa delivery on 31st. The invisible grille installation will be on 4th Aug. We almost have to change the 11 Aug shift date bcos of Daddy Lim’s work. I was contemplating to do the shift without Daddy Lim, hoping that the kids are old enough to help. Thankfully, things worked out and we get to stick to the plan. 

I prided myself to be able to shift and unpack all on the single day of move. However, that is bcos we always do a lot of pre move. We would start shifting boxes weeks leading up to the actual move date. It was doable in the last 2 moves bcos of the proximity of the old and new places. It doesn’t quite work for Rio. We would waste too much time and petrol and our car could barely take sufficient boxes to make sense. 

The last round, I ordered lalamove ahead of shift day to move a study table. It was again to enable me to work from the unit while waiting for some delivery. I remember that the price was very reasonable for a big size van. 

This round, I suggested to Daddy Lim to order lalamove to do a one-time pre move to save us on multiple trips. The 1.7m van only cost $40. Once Daddy Lim agreed on the plan, I started on my pre move packing. I packed mostly things that we wouldn’t use for the next few weeks and it is amazing how many those add up. I easily packed about 15 boxes, mainly things in the storeroom, the kitchen and documents. I am quite sure the kids would have a quite few of those but we were short of time and they are not in Rio to unpack.

The pre move was planned for 9am Sunday morning. Zaky helped to bring down the boxes. The van came and we were pleasantly surprised that they helped to move the boxes too. They have a bigger trolley and productivity suddenly increased by 100%. We happily paid them $50, asking them to keep the extras.

Once the van moved off, Daddy Lim and I drove to Rio. Then, it was an attempt to vacuum the forever dusty floor, wiping some of the cupboards and cabinets, so that we can unpack and pack the stuff. Daddy Lim and I spent 3 hours doing so. It was tiring but I am beginning to love Rio so much. Everything looks nice and good. Hoho.

Nana’s room with the study table nicely set up and tucked. Everything fitting in like jigsaw puzzle.

Zaky’s room will look identical, just flipped over the other side. 

Packing and unpacking is hard work and called for lunch. We then headed to ikea to buy some stuff. IKEA would be our new hangout place for the next weeks. We are also keeping an eye on ideas to better utilise the balcony and service yard. Daddy Lim said that this would be perfect as a coffee stand in the balcony. 

Witt the purchases, we went back to Rio for round 2. It wasn’t much and we got what we needed to do in less than 1 hour. 

I think we would probably make a trip every Saturday and Sunday. There isn’t that many Saturdays and Sundays before the actual shift anyway. Just a while ago, 11 Aug seems very far away. Suddenly, it is only 3 weeks away. So exciting! 

Mummy Lim

NRIC for Zaky

Zaky turns 15 this year and it is time for him to register for the NRIC. I have to go online to do some registration and submit the picture. The finger printing would be done in school. 

The timing is perfect; Zaky had wanted to have his curly hair in his NRIC. We had been procrastinating for so long and finally got down to doing it before the 22 July deadline. He was grumpy bcos I woke him up as we needed natural lighting and we barely have time to see each other during day time. 

Thankfully, there are many white walls in the current unit. I took several pictures, asking him to make a choice. 

He got upset with me. Zzzzzzz.

Finally the chosen one. I like how the app makes the photo in the required format but it is chargeable at $6.

I forgot my son looks like this. A while ago, he was looking at this. 

Mummy Lim

To JB for Face Treatment

Oh yes, I have come to the age where wrinkles only increase and deepen. I don’t think the regular slapping of face cream/ mask/ serum is enough to counter aging. Whenever I walked past aesthetic clinics, there seems to be extra pulls. I am also not surprised to find out that the people around me are doing more to defy aging. 

I am lazy, not only with the regular upkeeping but also to find out what is “out there”. I am thankful for people around me, who took the extra efforts to find out. I happily become the free loader.

Obviously, to try to do anything like that in Singapore would cost an arm. Sadly, such extras are not one-time efforts, and I dont have that many arms to pay for the extras. Among the aunties, there are talks about this Dr Wee clinic in JB, near to KSL. One of the aunties has frequented the clinic for a whole array of services. She was recommend to the clinic by a relative, essentially, word of mouth. 

As I said, I didn’t do my homework and didn’t know how much cheaper the procedures are but I am quite sure there would be savings. I was supposed to go with the aunties in early June. All were planned but I had to back out at the last minute bcos of work. The group chat was kept busy, with Auntie S and SL proactively updating the activities and progress.

I FOMO. Actually, I already had been thinking of making the extra efforts and would join them if not bcos of work. Bcos annual leave is so precious, I managed to plan a 2nd trip with the aunties yday for the clinic visit. Yay! 

The good timing train tickets for Saturday morning ran out but Auntie SR managed to get us train tickets for the return trip. She brought us to JB by bus instead. To avoid custom jam, we met at 7.45am. This is my 1st time taking bus into JB. Auntie SR brought us expertly around. The bus to JB is exactly where we board the train, just a different part of the terminal. 

There were already a big crowd but Auntie SR said that this is nothing compared to the peak hour crowd. The bus line fortunately moved quickly too. We paid S$2.6 each for the bus to bring us around the bridge, then to Q for immigration. 

Immigration was crowded bcos the auto gates for foreigners were down and we all had to Q for the immigration stamp. I didn’t mind actually; I like immigration stamps. Hoho. We were really lucky bcos the super packed immigration even made it to the news later in the day. 

We exited exactly where the train immigration is. Then took a grab to KSL. Bfast was the 1st agenda. 

The clinic is about 10 mins walk away. I had thought that clinic is in some mall or commercial building but actually one of the many shophouses. 

Once arrived and registered, we were brought to the consultation room with the doctor. She was wearing a mask and sounded too young to be an aesthetic doctor. Apparently, looking older does help in some profession. She isn’t really that young when I saw her later without her mask.  

We could consult and do nothing but we all had the intention to do some procedure. While we were consulting, the 2 regulars were already prepping for their procedure. I had qualms with my deep smile lines and milia seeds. I did the Thermage, as recommended by the doctor and had to leave the milia seed removal to another visit bcos I would be traveling and didn’t want the risk of infection. 

My before picture. 

I was brought to a room to apply numbing cream and was even given acoxia. It would be so painful? 

It was a one hour wait. Then Auntie S joined me in the numbing cream game. She did a procedure that involved injecting into her face. While her eyes were covered, I had the “privilege” to witness the entire procedure. It looked really painful and scary. I think I was more traumatised than her. Lol. 

While she recovered with the help of a face mask, I was brought to another treatment room and then it was my turn to have my eyes covered. I was given a stress ball to help with the pain (if any) and anxiety. 

The Thermage is to help with scrupling, lifting, firming with the use of radio frequency. The immediate effects would be light but collagen is stimulated to grow and more visible effects can be seen in 3 to 6 months. When the “shots” were delivered, there was barely any sensation at some parts of the face, otherwise some feeling of heat. For the areas along the jawline, it was actually painful. The doctor said that it is due to the gum, Auntie S said that bcos of the nerves. I had to clench my jaw, hold my breath and squeeze the stress ball whenever the shots were delivered to the jawline.

I coped with the treatment by counting (and down) the shots. I was so happy when it was finally over. My after photo. Hmmm… I had always been very insensitive to products/ treatments effect. I cannot see much of a difference leh. lol.

It was already 2pm when I was done. Three of the aunties had gone off for a bite. Auntie R was still in the treatment room. I waited a while for her but decided to abandon her and join the rest 1st bcos I had errands to run at City Square. 

We didn’t have much time at City Square. I got the kids’ contact lenses. It is so much cheaper to buy in JB than in Singapore. We had a bite, took a rest and it was already 5pm and we headed to the train terminal. 

The way home was easy. Though the auto gates for foreigners were still down, the train passengers are fixed in number and immigration usually doesn’t take that long. 

The Thermage effects could last up to a year. I am not sure when would I go into the skin boosters involving injections to the face or maybe one day botox and fillers. Age is more than a number. Zzzzzz. 

Mummy Lim

Project Rio Chapter 5: Installation, Deliveries and Working from Rio

We have firmed our moving date - 11 August (Monday). Is it an auspicious date? I have no idea. I chose it bcos it is a working day (for most), which usually means that there are lesser restrictions by the MCST. It is a PH in lieu for me bcos National Day falls on a Saturday and I didn’t have to take leave. The kids should be off from school too and we will have extra helping hands. Hmmm.. I hope theirs are helping hands. Lol. 

Trying to find a good mover is so difficult. We have moved 3x and each time, we ended up with plenty of heartaches. It isn’t even about finding a cheap and good mover. We paid a lot the last round with Cube Mover, bcos they kept adding on charges on the day of move and we were held ransom in the midst of the move. I still believe that we didn’t have that much to move but ended up paying so much. 

This round, after a lot of searching, we narrowed down to Trio, Soon Seng and 138 Mover. The last one was recommended by my Korean colleague, who said that all her Korean mummies friends raved about 138 mover. We eventually appointed Trio bcos Trio and Soon Seng quoted us fixed cost and Trio is cheaper, at $500. This time, we really don’t have a lot to move, many furniture are either sold, given or disposed. 

I just sold Nana’s super single bedframe for $20. For the rest of the weeks, she will be on her mattress on the floor.

It was a last minute deal. The buyer was in the midst of a move, contacted via Carousel, offered and collected all within 30 mins. I had to do last minute cleaning of the hair, dust and fur stuck on the frame. When I removed the frame, I had every reason to believe that Nana is balding. It was an evil sight. Lol. 

On Carousel, I am still trying to sell the dining table and Zaky’s study table. The mover had sent us the boxes and soon, I will be putting up the kids’ wardrobe and the shoe rack. Those are of low quality and I will probably give them away for free. 

Today at Rio, we had the kitchen tabletop installation and plumbing work from the ID side. On our side, the rubbish chute mesh and metal gate installation took place in the morning. Bcos I am the one with flexibility at work, I had planned to work from Rio. Over the weekend, we had fixed up one of the kids’ study table and brought over the trusty IKEA chair. This was my work station for the day, after arriving at 8.45am. 

Was it dusty? Very, but I survived. 

I also realised that our private house neighbour is doing massive renovation and it is noisy. Their whole house had been knocked down and I wonder how long the renovation will take. 

The installations were done by 10.30am.

I thought the metal gate design is very ugly but it is MCST requirement. 

I decided that I would go and tabao lunch. Did I tell you that there is this very nice Teochew porridge eating place near to Rio. Unfortunately, it is quite expensive and got GST somemore. I paid almost $10 for this and a teh but it is yummy. 

The washing machine, dryer and fridge were delivered before 1pm. My “work” in Rio was done. 

I had back to back calls from 2.30pm but survived all right. Overall, it wasn’t too bad. It rained and kept the weather nice and cool. The only thing is that I had to go to the 1st floor to use the common toilet. This will no longer be a problem though, bcos the plumping work is currently in progress. 

The ID shared that the garbage disposal will be taking place tomorrow, then cleaning up on the following day. I think what would be left would be small works and touching up. I don’t know when we can start cleaning up or shifting. We have the dining table delivery on 28 July, and the sofa, TV console and a cupboard on 31 July. Then the invisible grille installation on 4 August. 

With the boxes, I really want to start packing, moving and unpacking some of the lesser use stuff to Rio. I already know that Daddy Lim and the kids don’t enjoy my shifting enthusiasm. Hohoho. 

说做就做.

I am quite sure I will be able to have quite some boxes packed by the weekend. The problem is that our car is very small and I cannot unpack at Rio. Hmpf.

Mummy Lim