Battle with the Ants

Rio is a matured establishment and naturally pest could be a possible issue. The saving grace is that we rarely cook and thus there isn’t much food lying around. The Chis are usually hungry and their food got hobbled up quickly too. 

I haven’t seen any big roaches (Choy!), thought we encountered a couple of lizards. But, the ants had been a problem. A few months after we moved in, we had the ants problem, which went away after we set up the ant trap/ bait. What we are more worried about, is Mochi eating the ant trap, and we poison him instead of the ants. So, the ants traps have to be in strategic places that are in the ants track, yet in areas that we think Mochi wouldn’t get them. Actually, I think Mochi is just clever enough not to eat the traps. Heng ah. 

The ants problem has come back. We lived with it for a while, then realised that we needed to do something about it bcos they are increasing in numbers. They were all crawling towards the aircon in the living room and they didn’t come out after that. Did they build a nest in the aircon? 

We found the balance of the ant bait and tried to place them on the ants track. This time, it didn’t work. I think the baits are from too long ago and have lost its effectiveness. I see the ants happily eating the gel in the bait but the number of ants didn’t decrease. Ironically, they increased. Maybe the gel made them stronger. Zzzz.

The problem had become so bad, that we know that it is time to get new ant trap. We opted for the gel form this time.

According to the instructions, this is good for cracks and crevices. We tried this before back in Bukit Panjang and it was effective. 

Daddy Lim was very generous in dotting along the ants track. I kept stopping his generosity bcos I don’t want to kill the Chis. Within minutes, the ants swarmed the gel. 

Yes, the ants problem was so bad. It looked so gross. I have to tell myself to ignore and not to look at the spots. 

This morning, the places where we placed the gel were left with small yellow stains, which we cleaned away. Miraculously, the ants are almost gone! Hooray! We won the battle! 

The Chis are very much alive too. 

I don’t want to jinx it; I had thought that it would take longer for the problem to go away. I really hope that this is it. Fighting! 

Mummy Lim

One Month in Rio

It has been a month! Time flies! For a 1st, I am still loving our new home alot. Hoho. 

We have more or less gotten into our routine, be it household chores or commuting to work/ school/ tuition/ church. Daddy Lim and the kids’ lives are still very entrenched in the West. Daddy Lim had on many occasions, picked the kids from school/ tuition after work, which worked very well for the kids, particularly Zaky, who still whined about the traveling distance.

The food options near to our home are limited but plentiful a bus/ car/ bicycle ride away. I would usually tabao at the Geylang Bahru hawker center on my way home from work. Daddy Lim and I spent our weekend mornings, going to the different hawker centers for local bfast. This was Sunday’s bfast. 

It takes me about 40 mins to get to work now but my heart kept insisting that it only takes 30mins, that it is much nearer than Teck Whye. As such, I have been late at work for 10 to 15 mins on many occasions. Hoho. I have also put the foldie to good use and cycled to work on 2 Fridays. It is about 10km one way, and takes about 45 mins. Yes, almost the same amount of time as public transport. I opt to cycle on Friday, bcos there are less people in CBD and in the office and I wouldn’t get weird looks. What I also realised is that Marina Barrage on Friday evening (if I don’t leave on time) is super crowded, there are joggers, skaters, bikers, families, couples, friends…. basically human hazards everywhere. 

Oh yes, I still have my cat ears. 

We barely cooked in Rio. We either eat out or tabao. Last Tuesday, our neighbour gave us some delicious chili chicken. It had been a long time since we had home cooked food. 

I have to remember to 回礼 the next time. I cant cook, but we can always buy something nice as gift from overseas. Speaking of neighbours, we have the super nice and warm Mr and Mrs Tan on our right side, the chef of the delicious chili chicken, and the single lady on the left hand side, whom we try our very best to maintain a cordial relationship. 

Daddy Lim and the kids had been putting the music corner to good use. That is when I have to worry about damaging the relationship with the left side neighbour. Hoho.

Mochi had adapted somewhat to Rio too. He is starting to recover from his bald spots. Just on Saturday, we collected the just repaired Xiaomi, it refused to work after we shifted, and Mochi supervised Xiaomi as it finally did its work.

Mochi is the one who spent the most time in Rio. 

By the way, that is Nana’s cup. 

I feel that we are now very centrally located and many places are like less than 20 mins” drive away Maybe we weren’t very far away when we were in Teck Whye too. I am just happy with any reasons to make my love Rio more. We had been doing grocery shopping at the City Square Mall. It is a huge mall without crowd most times, with a huge NTUC and Donki. I like. 

The aunties have been planning our gatherings in my new neighbour hood. Just last Sunday, we met at Potong Pasir, how near is that?!

Pardon the photo that makes us look like 25. It is Auntie SL’s phone. Haha. 

Mummy Lim

Blessings @ Rio Part 1: SHSS ladies

It had been 2 weeks since we have moved to Rio. Have I gotten used? Absolutely. Rio is a lovely and comfortable stay. It really felt like home bcos Daddy Lim and I designed it and built it in the way that we wanted, unlike Centris and LV, where we didn’t do much. Nana said that she loves Rio and is looking forward to coming home after school everyday. Awww… that is the sweetest compliment. Her room is very messy though. Lol. 

Traveling did take some getting used to. The kids now take 15 mins longer than Teck Whye to get home. 15 mins may sound like a short time but very painful when one is tired. I understand. Zaky still grumbles but thankfully, Daddy Lim manages to pick him on his way home on some nights, though requiring Daddy Lim to have dinner and then wait for time at some kopitiam. Daddy Lim didn’t mind. While Rio is so much nearer on the map to my workplace, traveling time was barely shaved bcos I needed a bus to the MRT station and bus rides take time. Still, I am not complaining. 

I also found that I can tabao at some of the MRT stations before home after work. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any super yummy food so far. 

Daddy Lim and I have been spending our weekend mornings going to the different markets for nostalgia bfast food. We have come to the conclusion that good food needs time and we should just follow the q if we want to eat good food. I will remember that when I tabao dinner the next time, if my desire for good food wins over my impatience and tiredness. Haha. 

I don’t remember having “housewarming” anymore after our 1st home. It feels like housewarming is for young people. Lol. 

After we moved to Rio, I do want to invite the SHSS ladies. Not all of them are available but the group size was perfect for our home. I had booked the kids in advance and wanted a worship session - Nana picked the songs. Daddy Lim and Zaky were supposed to make use of the musical instruments that we have at home. They did practice - almost at the very last minute, like before the guests came. Lol. 

We invited them to come anytime after 2pm. 

Finally! 

We are already very blessed and we didn’t need anything more for the home but the ladies are very kind - they bought gifts and food. The cushion gift blends perfectly into our home. 

Pretty sunflower - the 1st real plant in the house! Nana insisted to show off her ikea hotdog.

Auntie TL brought over many board games. 

Playing against the teenagers is such a stressful thing now. Lol. 

The little ones were happy to hide in Nana’s room. 

They also went running around at the playground while Daddy Lim and I went to tabao dinner. 

The teenagers are obviously too old for playground but eyepower the little ones. 

We got zichar from the nearby kopitiam. 

We were worried about over ordering but ended up under ordering instead bcos we got hungry teenagers. Luckily we had Auntie H’s chicken pie and the ikea hotdogs and meatballs from our morning trip to supplement. Funnily, while there were little food left after the kids were done but the adults had just enough and even leftovers. I got reminded of Jesus feeding the thousands. Lol. 

Right after that, we did the worship. The intent was to flood the house with worship and the declaration of God’s powerful name over Rio. I felt very blessed! Auntie TL also prayed for the family and Rio. #love

We had to kept the teenagers in Zaky’s room later in the evening bcos they were so loud and I was worried that we would disturb our neighbour. Auntie TL said that we shouldn’t worry bcos she has prayed for God’s favor. Good ah. Hoho. 

The group left at about 10am. The ladies cleaned up the table and done the dishes so that there is minimal cleaning up left for us. My heart is thankful.

The kids were quick to go hide in their room. Zzzz. Daddy Lim and I started vacuuming and mopping. The house felt cleaner than before the party. Hoho. I went to bed with a very full heart. 

This morning, we woke up to a cloudy morning. I know immediately that I didn’t want to do bfast outside bcos I want to enjoy my coffee to this view in the cooling weather. 

Though the wind and rain soon came and somebody’s balloon flew away. Lol. 

Ooooo.. I am loving Rio. 

Though missing road cycling too. 

Mummy Lim

Project Rio: The Move Part 2

The last things that we did on move day were laundry, vacuuming and mopping. Thus, we woke up to a clean home! 

We all slept well and were up early bcos Daddy Lim was unfamiliar with the traffic condition. I was up to make IKEA hotdog bfast for them. So nice of me. 

Mochi was fine. Daddy Lim said that he started meowing when he entered the kitchen and ate some of his bfast. His bowl was still quite full; I don’t think he ate much but at least he used his litter box

I have decided to hit the gym. I couldn’t turn on the aircon and left the door open. The gym was mini and compact. 

I decided to use the elliptical machine. 

This proved to be a killer. I will use this again if I wanted to torture/ punish myself. Look at my sweat.

Daddy Lim got the kids to school and work safely. He said that the traffic was quite smooth. Zaky grumbled a little, bcos he now has to take longer time to travel to school and back home. 

I worked from home on Tuesday and Wednesday and I was really thankful bcos I was so tired from the shifting. I had to be home for the contractor to do door wrapping. This is the last bit of “renovation”.

Our doors are so nice now and very new looking. 

I had originally kept Mochi in the playpen but the work took an entire day and I kept him in our room instead so that he has more space to roam. In the end, he hid under the curtain for hours. He didn’t even need the bigger space.

At least I am able to find him. 

Nana came home and we tabaoed dinner from one of the kopitiams nearby. Daddy Lim picked Zaky on his way home and the rest of the evening was uneventful. I am starting to get used to the new home. Hoho. 

Before we turned in, I kept Mochi in the playpen, hoping that it would give me some comfort and a sense of security. He always meowed the whole night whenever we shift to a new place or returns from the sitter. I was hoping that by transiting slowly from the playpen to the house will prevent that. I am obviously so wrong. 

At the wee hours, I heard Mochi’s meows. Yes, it was that loud; I could hear him when he was in the kitchen. I woke up to heavy rain. Thankfully the balcony doors were closed and I now know that the service yard doesn’t get wet despite heavy rain. Lol. 

Anyway, I let Mochu out of the playpen and he quietened down, but not for long. I had thought that he could be frightened by the storm and stayed with him by sleeping on the sofa. Oh yes, I found out another thing, that it is possible to sleep on the sofa despite being a 2-seater but I have to curl up to fit comfortably. 

It was 4ish when I was woken up by Mochi’s incessant meowing again. I guessed (and thankfully rightly) that he was hungry, after going on a hunger strike for a day. He gobbled down the kibbles greedily and meowed for more. He didn’t stop meowing totally. I gave up and fed him his bfast at 4ish. This stopped the meowing only for awhile and I even resorted to playing with him, yes, at 4ish in the morning. 

Mochi was very persistent in wanting to wake Daddy Lim. He insisted on meowing outside the bedroom door, until finally when Daddy Lim woke up at 5.30am. I was grateful to head back to bed and slept until 8.30am. Luckily I was working from home. 

The contractor came again to finish the door wrapping. This time, I kept Mochi in Nana’s room. She didn’t have school and was instructed to close her bedroom door when she leaves the room. The next moment, I was told that Mochi was missing bcos she left her door opened to use the toilet. The main gate was opened too bcos the contractor was doing prep work outside the house. Zzzz..

Nana spent 30 mins trying to find Mochi and lure him out with snacks, if he was hiding in the house. The contractor said he didn’t see any cat. There isn’t much space to hide in the lift landing too and the door to the stairway was firmly closed. I had back to back calls and wasn’t able to fully join in the hunt. Nana eventually found him. 

He didn’t make a single sound and was hiding in this tight spot between the mattress and the window, amongst Nana’s many soft toys. He win le. Zzzzzz. Mochi must be exhausted from “partying” the entire night and he slept the entire day in that spot. I somehow got reminded of the days when the kids were babies. They did exactly that too. Lol. 

At the end of the workday, I decided to go for a jog to see where 5km to and back will lead me on the PCN. Somewhere almost to Kallang Wave Mall. 

It was a tiring jog, there were multiple stops for road crossing and multiple ups and downs across underpasses and bridges. When I was 1km in, I remembered that I should have cycled. We bought a new foldie! My intention is to cycle to work regularly but I needed to figure out the route, time needed and proper bicycle bag to keep my work bag. Also, given that food places are all a walk away, the foldie will also come in handy for food tabaoing. 

Speaking of which, when the WWFs came to visit, they had all thought that the guitar stands are bicycle stands. No ah. Now that cycling has lost favour with Daddy Lim, he asked that we keep the bikes in the carpark. Haha. 

The roadies are in the lift landing now while the gravel and foldie are kept in the carpark.

I hope that our neighbours don’t complain. We thought to leave them there until somebody complain. That is the nice thing with older condo projects, the neighbours are kinder and MCST care less of such. We couldn’t have done this in Centris or LV.

We are not the only ones. Daddy Lim said that there is a skate scooter and kid bike in the stairs way. When we accidentally press the wrong floor in the lift, I always peeked out. This is our 5th floor. Hoho. Monkey sees, 

monkey do.

I have gone back to the office yday and today too. We are starting to settle into a routine. The kids’ home travel isn’t so bad. Unlike Teck Whye, there isn’t many changes of MRT lines and LRT and bus. This cuts down travel fatigue. Even Zaky agreed. On occasions, Daddy Lom stayed in some kopitiam after work, so they he can match the kids’ timing, pick them along the way and send them them. So 伟大. 

Mochi seems to settle in too. I have kept the playpen. It is a lot earlier than I have intended but he looks comfortable in Rio already. I don’t know if he had been meowing in the past nights bcos I was too tired. Hoho. At least he has started to eat and use the litter box normally. 

Yes, all are good and we are loving our new home. 

Mummy Lim

Project Rio: The Move Part 1

In the weeks leading to the move, we have packed and moved quite some of the stuff to Rio. That was how Daddy Lim and I had been spending our many past weekends. We have also started packing and leaving things in boxes in the Teck Whye house, particularly things that don’t have anywhere to store in Rio (for the time being) and we also wouldn’t be needing in the days to the move. These boxes grew as D day approaches. 

The plan for move day is to wake up early, then head to MacD for bfast. This was Nana’s request. I contemplated going for a last jog at the PCN but luckily I didn’t bcos there was simply not enough time. By Sunday night, we were 90% packed but there was still the last 10%, consisting of toiletries, morning coffee and random pieces. I was still throwing things into boxes before bfast. 

Goodbye to Teck Whye, you have provided us with a comfortable home for the past 21 months. I no longer have to listen to Daddy Lim complained about the bad traffic. Hoho.

Mochi was still very chill in the morning. 

Bfast!

It was already 8.30am when we settled down for bfast. The mover is supposed to arrive between 9am to 9.30am. Though based on our frequent house moving experience, movers are rarely early or even on time. Nevertheless, we rushed home so that we can complete the last bit of packing and be ready for the mover. We forgot all about the cake that we wanted to buy and gift to our Teck Whye neighbour. 

Trio mover really surprises me. We were entering the carpark at about 9am. The mover called and were already at our door! 

The 1st thing that we did was to set up the playpen and kept Mochi in. The last move, he was so traumatised and hid and we had a hard time finding him. He obviously didn’t like the playpen much. 

So far, I have been doing majority of the packing. The kids mainly packed their stuff. With the mover starting to move the boxes, it was all hands on deck. Everybody was just throwing whatever remaining things into boxes and sealing them. We will worry about the mess later. 

Trio mover is very efficient. The supervisor took charge and the workers were moving fast. 

The pile, making up of ad hoc stuff that we are transporting on our own grew quickly too. 

We took a break while the mover did their job. 

The mover was done by 10am. Daddy Lim and Zaky started loading the stuff into our car. The property agent came to have an overall look. Our engaged contractor would be starting the cleaning, repair and painting work later in the day and handing the unit directly to the agent when done. 

Once done, we drove to Rio, hoping that we would be faster than the mover so that we can settle Mochi properly and of course, open the door for them. We also joined hands and prayed for the house - for God’s presence to fill very crevice of our new home.

We did and the mover arrived shortly. Mochi was placed in the kitchen. 

We barely moved the old furniture. Our stuff were mainly the boxes. I think there were 30 of them. 

We told the mover to leave all the boxes in the living room and we would sort them out ourselves. Within the next hour, they left. So efficient. What was left, was the laborious unpacking. The kids dealt with their room while Daddy Lim and I did the rest. It was actually quite mind boggling to have to quickly decide what goes where. I wouldn’t be surprised that we can’t find stuff in the next few days. Zaky was a lot of help. Other than unpacking his boxes, he helped to move the boxes to their respective places. 

We stopped for lunch at 2pm and decided that we would head to IKEA. 

Nobody leaves IKEA empty handed, especially if one has just shifted. That is us. Hoho. 

We headed back to Rio to continue to unpack. By dinner time, we have opened up all the boxes and put the stuff somewhere. This is like achievement unlocked. Lol.

Nana’s room.

Zaky’s room.

Our room. 

Pardon the messy beds. With the messy beds and stuff unpacked, it looked like we have been living in Rio for a long time. Haha. 

This is probably the corner that Daddy Lim is the most proud of.

We headed for dinner. There is this kopitiam that we always drive past that sells the traditional fish steamboat. It wasn’t cheap but very good. 

Mochi spent a long time in the playpen, hidden in the little cardboard “home” that we bought for him. We unzipped the playpen but he didn’t attempt to get out until in the evening. Then he decided to explore a little. 

Before hiding - this is on one of the shelves, behind the electrical appliances. Seriously, we have no idea where to find him if he hides and doesn’t make a sound. 

I kept Mochi back in the playpen for our 1st night. I hope the confined space will give him some comfort and security. He must be very stressed. He barely touched his dinner or the snacks that we gave him. 

Mummy Lim