Yochi, Day 1 to 4

Orange was called Orange bcos he is Orange. We had been debating over a new name for him. The kids are fond of calling him Ron, Fred or George (Weasley). But we all know of a Ron, Fred, George (or multiples of them) in life and it is so weird to name a pet that. “Hey Ron, my cat is called Ron too!”

There were so many ideas and we couldn’t agree on one until Nana suggested “Yochi”, which is supposed to be some Aussie yoghurt brand. That doesn’t matter but what is important is that “Yochi” rhymes with “Mochi”. 

Yochi has been with us for 4 days. On day 1, Nana volunteered to keep him in her room. He slept on her bed and was a quiet cat at night, unlike Mochi. Mochi only sleeps in Nana’s room occasionally, when she isn’t too tired bcos Mochi will meow at unearthly hours, to be let out of the room. 

Yochi ate well. 

I hope he is drinking too; it is harder to track the water bowl. 

The 2 cats are segregated. Mochi was very wary on day 1 but could smell the new cat. 

We told JJ that we would fully mesh up the metal gate and she suggested that we do something to the big gap in the balcony too. She warned that when there is a new cat, sometimes, even the resident cat will try to escape. We heeded her advice and went to several places to try to find the cat mesh. #backache

I duno how sturdy the mesh at the balcony is but Mochi normally will not attempt to squeeze when he sees an obstacle. I hope he remains this way and Yochi too. 

On Sunday morning (day 2), Yochi peed in the litter box. Hooray! Not long after the celebration, he pooped outside and beside the litter box. Zzzzz… I hope he is not trying to mark his territory. If he continues to do that, it will be a series of CSI that we needed to do and I am not looking forward. Is the box too small? Does he not like the litter? Is he sick? Is he stress? JJ says that Yochi is using the litter box ok previously but she has huge litter bins at home. Yochi continued to stay and sleep in Nana’s room on Sunday. 

On Monday (day 3), Nana’s room has become so stinky. The litter has a strong soya bean smell and Yochi is not sweet smelling either. Her window and door are shut tightly and this cannot go on much longer. I decided to move Yochi to our room instead and aired Nana’s room as much as possible. It helped so much. 

When I was home yday evening, Nana has taken Yochi to her room and our room was so super stinko. I removed the litter box, which was dry and empty and tried to air our room before bed. We also tried to let the 2 cats meet. Yochi kept hissing at Mochi and then growl at him. Mochi was wary at 1st but later was just very chilled. So proud of Mochi. 

Unfortunately, even after a couple of hours, our room smelled really bad. Daddy Lim and I guessed that Yochi may have peed somewhere in the room. Zzzzzz. 

We were really on our 4s, sniffing away and trying to see if Yochi had peed in the room. He did. Zzzzzz.. right at the corner, next to our bed, on Daddy Lim’s side. The stink was so bed. We cleaned and sprayed Dettol and opened the windows wide for the entire night.

Yochi was back in Nana’s room on Tuesday (day 4). He peed and pooped once in the litter box in the morning. I was very worried about his peeing problem the entire day. My biggest worry is that he would pee on the mattress. Can cry.

In the evening, we found some pee on the floor beside the litter box again. The litter box was empty and dry. We took Yochi out of Nana’s room so that we could open the window and air her room. Yochi was roaming in the house and he doesn’t like Mochi. He would hiss and growl at Mochi when Mochi goes near him. Mochi was very chill and simply walked away. 

Yochi again spent the night with Nana. 

Mummy Lim

Looking for a 2nd Cat

We have Mochi for coming to 3.5 years. He has moved 3 homes with us. In the last 2 years, he has spent many long days alone at home while we were in school and work. Even when we are home, he rarely “disturbs” us, only meowing when he needed attention. 

I duno if he is lonely or if he needs a companion but I read that some cats are perfectly happy on their own. Then in the last 2 years, we saw that there are many occasions where he overgroomed himself, resulting in painful looking sore spots. We once brought him to the vet and it wasn’t skin issues. If it is allergies, we have no idea to what since the bald spots will appear randomly. 

We guess it could boredom. He is afterall alone at home most of the time. Ooooo… Mochi has such a cute face.

We started toying with the idea of a second cat. Actually, I think Daddy Lim and the kids would love to have a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th… cat anytime. I probably am the one who holds the final decision bcos I am the 铲屎官. 

The journey to get a 2nd cat is so tough. I didn’t know that it would be so tough bcos getting Mochi wasn’t difficult. We got Mochi from SPCA and thought that we should adopt the 2nd one too, to give the rescued and strays a 2nd chance. We had originally thought of a kitten but had been convinced that our house is not cat proofed enough for a kitten. We thought of a young adult cat (like 1 yo) and had been browsing SPCA website and following different cat rescue groups on social media. 

SPCA may have kittens once in a while but mainly older cats or cats with special needs. We didn’t find one from SPCA. We reached out to different groups on social media, visit their adoption drives and encountered so much frustration in the process. 

These groups often advocate adoption to give these cats a 2nd chance but have such stringent criteria, and we fall short. Our bedroom and toilet windows are not meshed. Our grilles at the balcony are 2 inches wide and that is too wide. We need to fully mesh up our metal gate. I get it that they are trying to keep the cats safe. The mere fact that Mochi has been with us for the past 3 years and perfectly alive is not good enough for them. Even after I took pictures of our balcony and showed how impossible it is for Mochi to squeeze through the balcony grilles, they are not convinced/ satisfied.

Now, why do people buy cats instead of adopt? What a mockery. 

I almost give up after asking, leaving my contact, sending videos of our place and waiting patiently (or try to) for the organisations to reply bcos they are volunteers. It was tough. 

Thankfully for FB, who is eavesdropping and snooping in the background and knew that we are trying to adopt and similar news feed popped up. I saw this cat rescuer JJ and that she is fostering one of the rescue cats, Orange and to help him look for a forever home. 

I reached out and she responded. Yay! While she asked the standard set of questions, she was much more reasonable. Orange is a ginger cat, stray, about 2 yo and sterilised. His feeder rescued him from the streets bcos he was bullied. Daddy Lim and I visited Orange at JJ’s place before CNY. Ginger cats are supposed to be very affectionate and we are hoping to have a lap cat next.

JJ is like SS, Mochi’s sitter. JJ has over 10 cats of her own. She adopted them when she couldn’t find them a forever home and the number grew along the years. In addition, she helped to foster cats, giving them a temporary home meanwhile. Orange was just with her for a couple of days when we visited. He was very shy and scared and voluntarily caged himself, hiding from the many other cats that JJ has. 

We didn’t get much of a chance to interact with Orange bcos he was constantly hiding in the cage and we were also very distracted by JJ’s multiple other cats. Is Orange a typical cat that Daddy Lim would like? No. Orange has a sharp face and no tail. Daddy Lim loves Mochi for his cute rounded face and long tail. Orange has an unfair advantage simply bcos he is a ginger. 

JJ has offered a home trial. She is opened to a 2-week period but willing to do longer, understanding that it would take longer to integrate 2 adult cats. As we were in Cebu over CNY, we agreed to start the home trial last Saturday, after CNY. 

We are going to have a new cat! 

Mummy Lim

CNY 2026 Round 2 and I Found my Glasses

Oh yes! I found my glasses! I lost it for a good week. Where was it? It probably dropped into the bag that I used to store the snorkelling masks after we bought them. It was sitting in the bag and in the storeroom for a week. I found it while packing for Cebu. Happy! 

I took a short 45 mins nap after settling all the laundry and vacuuming after home from Cebu. Then it was time to visit my brother’s place and Popo for CNY and lunch. Before that, we had to stop by NTUC to buy oranges. Ya, we are so ill prepared for CNY. I was looking forward to the good home cooked food, particularly Popo’s ngoh hiang. The 4 that Popo gifted us when we met for reunion dinner were gone in 2 days. 

A very excited lion greeted us at the door.

My brother had invited some uncles and aunties for lunch and to visit his new place. I see my extended family once a year during CNY, only if we are in Singapore and if our timing coincides. Our family have never hosted them. There is always a 1st!

I have not seen one of the uncles and wife for years! 

The elders were having lunch when we arrived. We (and the Fs) quietly stole ngoh hiangs from the kitchen and munched on CNY goodies. Hungry leh. We swamped the dining table once the elders were done. Chomp, chomp, yum, yum. Home cooked food. I was reminded of when I was a kid, having reunion dinner at my grandma’s place. Bcos there were so many people then, and a small dining table, we had to take turns. Usually the fathers and uncles 1st, before the kids, then finally the mothers and aunties. 

FB also reminded me of this.

Let’s do another one! 

Ferlin said that there was one taken just a year or 2 ago. Is it? She dug this out. Oh ya.. old people brain. 

Anyhow, they were gamed for another one.

Ferlin quickly put them together. 

Look how they have grown over the years! 

This morning, my SIL sent this over the family chat, by ChatGPT. Zaky, Nana and Ferlin totally don’t look like themselves. Lol.

Happy New Year! Huat ah!

Mummy Lim

Cebu! Day 4: Ocean Park, Mall Crawl and Home Sweet Home

It was the only day that we didn’t have to wake up super early and I could use the gym. I hesitated but still managed to drag myself out of bed and into the gym. The motivation? The thought of the weighing scale back home, revealing the 3 days’ damage. 

There were another family in the gym. The kid was happily messing around. I did my kickboxing HiiT and was happy that I had earned my calories for my bfast. 

We had a very relaxing itinerary for the last day. We took our time at bfast and were trying not to overeat. Then back to the room to use the bathroom and packing before checking out. Our 1st stop was to go eat Lechon. Ya, eat again. Lol. 

Yday, our driver said that we should try the House of Lechon at 10am. That was exactly what we did. We didn’t have to wait for a table and Lechon was available. 

Lechon! Oink, oink.

We were not hungry but we must eat Lechon and it doesn’t make sense to only eat Lechon. So we ended up with a table of food. 

Nana even ordered dessert - mango mochi.

The food didn’t disappoint us. 

We took a grab to the Ocean World, which is like an aquarium. I thought it was ironical that we were going to see fishes in tanks when there were so many fishes swimming in the sea. Lol.

What greeted us wasnt fishes but birds. 

And other animals.

Finally the fishes. Well, some sorts included. 

Are mermaid some sort of fish? 

Their mermaids were very well fed. One of them wore a snorkelling masks. Haha.

Nana was super funny. She has purposely brought and worn a pair of fishy socks, to take pictures with the fishes. Too comical! 

There was a restaurant with a hugh tank but we didn’t have lunch at Ocean Park bcos we had 2 bfasts. 

We also caught a bird show. Instead of hawks and eagles, they have pigeons. Haha. 

The park wasn’t big and we were done in 1.5hrs. What caught our attention was the huge looking mall across the road. The other place that we had intended to go was the Science Center but decided otherwise when we saw how much to do in the mall. 

There was of course some shopping involved but several activities too. We played darts and basketball machine while Daddy Lim dozed on the massage chair. 

Then we tried our luck at the claw machine and did more mall crawling until we stopped for a tea break. This is some Filipino cake. It is hard and full of cream. 

We had other snacks too.

To burn some time, we also caught a movie. Once that was done, we took a grab back to the hotel, collected our bags and took another grab to the hotel. 

Our flight was at 1.10am. We arrived at the airport at about 8.30pm. I didn’t check my emails and only found out about the flight delay to 2am when we arrived at the airport. The check in counter only opened at 10am, so we snacked some more. Zaky had wanted to eat Jollibee at the airport. That was his bucket list, only to find out that our terminal has no Jollibee. We eventually settled for BK after we cleared immigration. 

The kids (especially Zaky) finally took out the work that they had lugged from Singapore. Zaky brought his Mac book too. He shouldn’t have bothered. Lol. 

The checkin and immigration were smooth, though a long wait despite only us and another person in the Q. Zaky was so sick of the Filipinos’ lack of efficiency. We had to wait for everything and sometimes, we cannot understand why it would take them so long. I was worried that I would exceed the carry on bag weight limit but only 8.4kg. I had the heaviest bag.

We were informed that the flight was further delayed to 2.55am. I have always seen people sleeping on the floor in the airport. This time, I tried bcos the chairs were so hard and uncomfortable. The was a smoking room next to the hall where we were waiting. The smoking room has sofas that look more comfortable. Why? 

We almost missed our flight bcos we didn’t know that it was boarding. It was a tiny plane with a 2 by 2 configuration. Zaky benefited and sat in the exit row with Daddy Lim. He dozed off soon after boarding and the air stewardess had to wake him to explain the safety procedures. I don’t feel quite safe. Lol. 

Needless to say, we all knocked out. No food, no entertainment, never mind. While not the most comfortable, I slept most of the way back to Singapore. 

Mochi was waiting for us to feed him. 

We were heading to my brother’s place for lunch. It was a busy morning of catching up on sleep, do homework, unpacking and housework. When I was finally done with the laundry and vacuuming, I had to reward myself. 

This marked the end of our short and adventurous Cebu holiday. Cebu has far exceeded our expectations. It was so good. 

Mummy Lim