I Bang the Car!

Daddy Lim is going for an inspection tomorrow and will be back on Saturday. This will mean that I have to find my way to the office. I thought I should drive the car and save some taxi $$. Daddy Lim thought that it is a good idea too.

To make sure that I will make it safely to and fro work, I thought that I should practice driving home from office today during the peak hour and I did drive. I even drove to Jurong Safra. I had needed to renew my Zumba class as I would be missing the class tomorrow and class ends this week, or so I thought. The drive was fine other than a few small scares.

Then I drove to the car park and attempted to park. There was this lorry behind me while I tried to park and I was feeling jittery.  The space to turn was narrow and this made things worse. I thought I saw a pillar but it somehow disappeared from my view when I was parking. Then Daddy Lim said that there was enough clearance and I continued to step on the accelerator.  Suddenly, we heard a "thud" and my heart dropped... I reversed into the pillar.

Daddy Lim said that he meant the front when he said that there was clearance. I couldn't park anymore and Daddy Lim had to take over. I was so embarrassed and the uncle driving the lorry purposely waited for us to get out of the car to tease my driving skills.

There was a little dent on the bumper despite the loud thud that we heard. Daddy Lim assured me that it was fine and tried to make me feel better by telling me that at least we know how hardy sixty is now. Boo. And when I was renewing the lessons, I found out that class ends the week after next!

I lost all confidence to drive now. I think I will take taxi to work on Thursday and Friday. Sob.

Mummy Lim

Goodbye Singapore, Hello HKG

I did manage to clear most of my work today and submitted the big project that I had been laboring on time. Suddenly, I found myself very looking forward to the HKG holiday. Lol.

I left office at 6ish, had dinner and headed home to very excited kids. It was like forever before 10pm came and it was finally time for us to head to the airport.

Lil Isaac had a nap in the afternoon and is still energetic, running around in the playground now. Lil Shauna is also in the playground but is awake since 7.30am, no nap and is surviving on whatever last ounce of energy that she has.

I hope we have a good flight. The MH370 incident left me feeling fairly jittery. Yeah, we will be in HKG after our nap. Yawn.

Mummy Lim

Butterfly

Two weeks back, Lil Shauna went to a wedding dinner with Daddy Lim. She loves tye idea - dressing up and seeing a beautiful bride. She even got a new dress and was happy to pose for pictures.

Lil Isaac stayed with Mummy and what did we do?

He had a nice bubble bath. Hehe.

Mummy Lim

Hong Kong

We are less than 1 week away from our HKG holiday and I should be thrilled but I am not exactly because I didn't have time for that. I was actually very excited about the trip and was very much looking forward to it until sometime last week when I suddenly realized that I had a war to fight and the battle was already at my doorstep. The project dateline falls right  in the middle of the HKG holiday, which means that I have to deliver before deadline and have less time to work on the project. Bleh.. And I have indeed been working hard for the past week. Unfortunately, being new to the company (though not that new anymore) also means that I am facing tons of unknowns and I am constantly feeling my way around, cutting down on my efficiencies. I feel like I am literally working for my holidays now and I know payback time will start right after I come back from the holidays when phase 2 of the project starts. It is Ok, so long as I get to go on my holiday.

Me aside, the kids are excited and even Daddy Lim is looking forward to the holiday for a break. Our last trip to Taiwan, which took place in end November 2013, seems like a long time ago. Thought in reality, that was only less than 4 months back. I strive on holidays. 

The kids had been doing the great count-down and will confirm with us every other night on the number of days that set us apart from HKG. Lil Isaac can’t really count, not backwards definitely and he doesn't really grasp the concept of time as well. Thus, he will blurt out every now and then that he wants to go HKG “now” or asked if we are going to HKG tomorrow. 

The last time we were in HKG was in February 2012 with the SHSS gang. Lil Shauna was turning 4 and Lil Isaac was 1 YO then. The kids (even Lil Shauna) didn't seem to remember much about the trip. Thus, it feels like they are going to HKG for the 1st time in their life when this is supposed to be Lil Shauna’s 3rd trip (Lil Isaac’s 2nd). Lol. I do feel a little cheated of my money spent on the 1st 2 trips. 

I haven’t the time to pack my luggage and have been procrastinating but I will have to start soon, probably this weekend. Lil Shauna is excited about helping. She is a big girl already and has opinions about what she wants to wear while on a holiday. I was updating my “To Bring” list, improvising on the last list that I used for HKG and it struck me again how quickly the kids are growing up. We no longer need milk bottle and powder for Lil Shauna. Neither do we have to bring baby food nor tons of diapers for Lil Isaac but we are adding on underwear to the list for the big boy! 

It will be a great holiday, just like all the recent holidays that we have taken. Yeah!

Mummy Lim

Parental Volunteer - Newater Plant Tour

I was on half day leave to clock my precious 4 hours of PV hours. The kids were visiting the Newater Plant and I was told to make sure that nobody gets lost. Well, that sounded fairly easy and I didn't think much of the trip. I even expected the 4 hours to pass easy. I am of course very wrong.

I arrived at the school about 2.15pm and the kids were already waiting at the foyer. There were 2 primary 4 classes and I was tagged to one of them. Each class is almost made up of 40 kids. The kids were amazingly noisy. They were fidgeting non-stop, talking, laughing, playing a fool and basically just very rowdy. The teachers had to harshly ask them to quieten down many times in that span of 15 mins. Before we even boarded the bus, I found myself with a headache from the noise. I felt as though I was with 40 Lil Isaacs. It was like a nightmare.

The bus ride wasn't any easier. Now, imagine 40 Lil Isaacs in a confined space. The kids were very excited, as if they have never been in a bus. The poor teacher (who looks like he just graduated from school not too long ago) was constantly asking the kids to keep quiet or to sit down or dragging some rowdy kids to empty seats, hoping to instill some peace in the bus but never ever succeeding. I think he also gave up at some point, so long as nobody gets hurt. While in the bus, I can totally understand why so many teachers quit. If I had any thought of becoming a teacher to contribute back to the society as a 2nd career, I am sure any traces disappeared after the trip.

I didn't know where the Newater Plant is. Daddy Lim mentioned that it is somewhere in Tuas. I Googled while in the bus and realised that the Newater Plant is in the East and the nearest MRT is Tanah Merah! How bloody far is that? Not when I have to be with a bus full of monkeys! Even most of the girls behaved like monkeys! Argghhh! To make matters worse, there was traffic jam on PIE and the traffic was crawling and the driver got lost subsequently. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

Life was easier at the Newater Plant. The plant staff took care of the kids and the PVs get to sit around and wait for time to pass.

Unfortunately,  that peace was very much short-lived. Soon, it was time to go home and I couldn't tell if I was happy or sad to go home. I do want to go home so badly but I dreaded the bus ride home equally bad. The 2nd pain came when the bus was late and we waited and waited and waited. The bus came only at 6.20pm,  which was almost an hour late and we were stuck in the peak hour jam. Boo.

I was hoping that the going home ride will be more peaceful, praying that the kids will be quieter after one afternoon's of activity. Of course I am wrong. They didn't seem at all tired and were just, if not noisier.  Haiz. I think even the teacher surrendered. He yelled several times and I heard him mumbled about being so glad that he wasn't the form teacher of this class.

My head hurts from the ride. I already tried as much as possible to block out the noise and was so exhausted at the end. I can't help but wonder if this is the worst class in the school and would hesitate big time to send my kids to the school if everyone is as such. I hope not! I need to forget about this nightmare. I will delete the picture that I took after this post.

Mummy Lim

Lil Shauna Lectured Me

It was the usual Sunday affairs, rushing to do homework, feeding the kids and getting ready for church. All the while, Popo was busy washing and cleaning and don't know what. It has become a routine that I will bring kids out 1st so that Popo can finish her chores else we will all be late and likely to be very late and today is no difference.

The kids were putting on their shoes at the door and I was packing the stuff to bring out and I ended with 3 recycled bags bcos Popo made me put different things in different bags! I was grumbling and complaining when Lil Shauna lectured me that I should listen and obey Popo, bcos Popo is my mummy. I didn't know how to react bcos Lil Shauna is not wrong but Popo is not always right in her instructions either. Popo was secretly pleased and mocked me that Lil Shauna knew better. I rebelliously retaliated that I wouldn't go and seek my death if she asked me to. I know I am bad. Haiz.

After that last mega fight, things had been alright though not and will never be fantastic. My relationship with Popo will likely be my forever pain. I surrender to God.

Mummy Lim

Scooting Fun

We met up with the Chance Family yday evening for Urban scooting and blading fun.  This time, only Daddy Lim was on his blades. That place is too crowded and too challenging for anybody else to be on their blades.

The kids were whizzing everywhere and this is the only picture that I had. Daddy Lim asked why does he look like he is peeing in the picture. Haha.

We all had a great workout. Daddy Lim was fantastic on his rollerblades, weaving in and out of the crowd. His little girl was so impressed and in awe of him. He has a little admirer. I was very impressed too. I know that he is good, but I have never seen him do urban skating. Most importantly, I think Daddy Lim enjoyed himself tremendously.

We had dinner and had another round at Auntie H's house before heading home. It was so tiring that everybody knocked out. Lol. We should do more of this in the future.

Mummy Lim

Rollerblading

Lil Isaac was on his rollerblades for the 4th time on Saturday and he made good progress. He could now stand and when there is a gradient, he can roll forward without falling. He also tried to shuffle and move forward after loads of encouragement. It is still hard to make him understands and listens to instructions now and as a result, he gets plenty of bumps and falls but those are part and parcel of learning. Daddy Lim and I appeared really heartless for him to keep falling and pick him up to continue after each fall. Nainia was so worried the first time when she saw us practice with him but his heartless parents just made him go on. We know that he would get there one day and are so proud of him now.

 On the other hand, Lil Shauna is really great on the wheels. She glided around confidently and Daddy Lim is teaching her how to brake - something that even I struggled with and I never master the T brake. I do hope that my girl will be much skillful than me soon. Lil Shauna is so good (for a kid) on her rollerblades now that we can even bring her rollerblading in the park. The new rollerblades also allowed her to go faster and she seems to be enjoying herself. 

Bcos the kids have phonics class on Saturday and Sunday (one on each day) now, our weekends are always almost burnt. They end their classes late in the afternoon thus there aren’t much stuff that we can do after that (or we are too lazy to) and ended up doing plenty of scooting and rollerblading. Guessed it isn’t that bad after all.

On Sunday, we brought the kids to Chinese Garden after Lil Isaac’s phonics class. Daddy Lim and Lil Shauna were on their rollerblades. We recognized that Lil Shauna wouldn't go too fast and thus put Lil Isaac on his bicycle so that he would go slower as compared to when he is on his scoot. I was on the adult scoot, which was a great buy and we had a good hour of fun. The paths in Chinese Garden weren’t made for rollerblading though and we would have to look for friendlier places next time. We had been looking forward to such healthy and cheap family fun for a long time. The kids are finally old enough.

I didn't have a picture of Daddy Lim holding on to his little girl’s hand as they rollerblade. It was very heartwarming and I told Lil Shauna that Daddy Lim used to do that with me a long, long time ago. We are all looking forward to the time that Lil Isaac can rollerblade properly and we can all go rollerblading together then. Before that, I think I needed to buy new rollerblades as well. Mine are disintegrating.

We ended our trip to Chinese Garden with playground. The playground was surprising nice. Unfortunately, it was littered with dried leaves and the sand is usually "dusty". The wet tissue that we used to clean our hands turned brown instantly.

Oh, and we are going to sign Lil Shauna up for ice skating class too. Hehehe. We just have to make some arrangement as the classes are on either Saturday or Sunday and our weekends mornings are super duper pack now. Roar.

Mummy Lim

Lost Again

First, it was Fustal. That was for the Company’s Community Day, for Charity. The organizing committee needed support. Being new and being HR, it was almost a “must-join”. So I did join and play Fustal for the 1st time in my life with my HR girls. I was the goalkeeper and was glad to be a goalkeeper. At least I get to use my hands. My legs aren’t at all trained to kick a ball.  For my active years, they were used for jumping and running. Nevertheless, I thought that I performed pretty well despite being a 1st attempt. Hehe. *secretly proud of myself*

We didn't win, in fact we were pretty close to being the last. Well, you can’t expect a group of HR people to win a sports competition. Yes, I am stereotyping but I haven’t seen many sportswomen in HR after so many years working in this field. And the kids visited me while I was playing the goalie. They were quite wild-eyed to see mummy in action and were fairly disappointed that I didn't win. Until today, the kids will still occasionally mention about me being a goalie. Haha.

Last Friday, it was 3-a-side street basketball. It is the same old story, they needed support, especially to form another lady team. After 6 months in the Company, I think I can shake off the “newbie” term and am in no obligation to help. Fortunately for the organizing committee, I am a fit buff in the making recently and thought that I could do with some good workout. Moreover, it is definitely less competitive here than where I used to come from, where every other female inter-BU competition player seems to do competitive sports for a living and working in a shipyard is just a front. Practice for a particular game can start months ahead of the big day. On the actual day, the players are out to kill and not for a friendly match. Scary.

My team was a last minute put together and the team player kept changing. I was demotivated for awhile but figured out that it was ok cos I only wanted to have fun. I was excited yet anxious before the game, just like any other competition that I have participated previously.  The kids couldn't support me this time as Lil Shauna had her maths class on Friday.   

There were only 3 lady teams and it was a 7-1-7 mins game concept. The lady team with the highest score will win. We had to wait an awfully long time for our turn as there was only one court. They also hired an old referee who gave a long speech on how to play the game. I almost fell asleep. There was also renovation works going on and the court was very dusty and slippery. 

Still, I was very excited to start the 1st game and started enjoying myself when the game started against a stronger team. I became the usual me and automatically started commanding the less skillful team mates around the court. In fact, I was already telling them the tactics, what to do, where to run before we went into the court. Lol.

At the end of the 1st half, I was grasping for breathe. Apparently, the zumba workout has failed to prepare me for such intense workout. I was trying to breathe and drink water at the same time and hoping that time will freeze during that precious one min break. When time was up, I staggered back into the court, feeling dizzy and hoping that I wouldn't blackout. Yes, I was that lousy. Towards the last few mins of the game, one of the team mates went down with a sprain ankle and we also lost. Truth be told, her injury was a blessing in disguise to me cos I was so tired. I wasn't at all disappointed when time was up but I was very happy cos I felt like I almost lost my life playing street basketball. Lol.

After mere mins break, we were up against the other team and we could have won, despite a weaker teammate in replacement of the injured player. Unfortunately, barely mins into the game, another player went down, again with another sprain ankle. The referee asked if we would want to continue playing, i.e., 2 against 3. I was very fast to decide that we would allow a walk-over. Yes, I was selfish. I was already half dead and in no way going to use the other half of my remaining life trying to win the game against 3 persons, especially when the remaining playing of my team has obviously no ball-sense. I appreciate her sole focus of dribbling the ball with no other awareness of her surrounding but enough was enough. So we made the bottom again this time. Haha. I think I am jinx.

Daddy Lim and the kids fetched me after the game and they were so disappointed that I didn't win anything, not during Fustal and not this time. Lil Isaac kept telling me that he wanted me to win. Lol. Ok, looks like I should be joining another sports-something that came up in the near future and I have to win something so that I can bring the medal home to please the kids. Lol. Wait.. maybe it will be less detrimental to my health if I just buy a medal home. Such medals are really cheap now. Haha.

Nevertheless, I had a fantastic workout and enjoyed muscle ache on Saturday, feeling that I have worked out on muscles that I have not used otherwise. Hehe.

Mummy Lim

Love-hate Fast Food Bfast

If I could, I would bring the kids for BK bfast at JP before we head to church on Sunday mornings. The kids love doing so. BK serves good bfast food but their service is terribly slow. It has gotten to the point that we have a love-hate relationship.

The branch at JP is the most convenient for us. We would take a train to the JP, have bfast then take another train to church. We did that for last Sunday as well as this. Both weeks (and also the other weeks that we were there), we were greeted  with long queues but fairly empty restaurant.  That explains my complain. The counter staff - 2 teenage Malaysia girls (same one for both weeks) were painfully slow in taking orders and also in delivering the orders. Ouch!

I was there alone with the kids this morning and had to leave the kids on their own at the table with peppa pig while I join the long q. The q was literally crawling forward and I was in the q for at least 10 mins. I was willing it to move faster while I worried that the kids would do stupid things (especially the monkey) like climbing onto and jumping off the table. Now and then, Lil Shauna would come to me with the phone so that I can reset Peppa Pig. Then I have to worry that somebody would knock into Lil Shauna. While standing in the q, I also had to tolerate looking at the uninterested teenagers taking the customers' order and walk like 200 times to complete collecting one customer's order. Haiz. I cannot tell if I was being impatient or if the next generation are generally so slow in all that they do now.

At least the food turned out proper this week lest the hasbrown that have started to turn cold. Last week, the eggs were so salty. I heard another customer complained but figured out that we just had to make do. Complaining wouldnt help in that situation. The q was almost out of tbe restaurant then. The most we get a refund but the kids still needed food. Beggers can't be choosers. Otherwise, we can only eat Popo's fried noodle on Sunday morning. 

Mummy Lim