Busy laundry day!

The washing machine's getting a real workout today! 

First it was che-che’s bedsheet and protector, then Fridays are the second assigned towel day for each week. Making use of the time she’s not in SIN I decided to wash her/their stuff toys. 

I used che-che’s clean, damp towel handy by wrapping up their soft toys, popped them in a laundry bag, and threw them in the wash. 

Had to wash in three batches with this bunch of toys. All using Simply Good’s laundry sheets. Just one more - Bubbles - that I will wash when these ‘satays’ are dried.

Switched on the laundry heater. Need to make sure all are dried completely for next day’s laundry. My laundry rack is also working hard. 

Bed Vacumn - III

开展咯! Used the new bed vacumn. 

Vacumned che-che’s bed first coz the laundry rack will not have enough space tomorrow to hang if I wash all 3 bedsheets and bed protectors. 

Not sure if it’s good sign that it’s green light the whole time I was vacumning her bed. It’s either the bed is really clean or there’s something wrong with the machine 😂.

Verdict :

1)  it doesn’t beat the mattress as hard as the previous one, or maybe the old one was wearing out? When the beating was vigorous the previous one, it was so loud on the Saturdays I have to vacumn the beds 😂. I like the new one coz my arms don’t vibrate with the machine 🤣 and I don’t get the tingling sensation on my left arm n palm (that injured arm). I have to use my strength to hold the machine down for the old one. But because I don’t hear the beating sound, psychologically I feel like Iris Ohyama didn’t do its job. 

2) because the handle is higher than the previous one, I don’t have to lean that close to the vacumn. No backache.

3) the ‘neck’ is movable so it’s less tiring for me. However it posed a challenge when I was vacumning the sides of the mattress. The ‘neck’ doesn’t lock in place so one hand has to press down on the base/plate. 

4) as the coverage is wider than my previous bed vacumn, I move lesser across the mattress. Usually I’d run the mattress thrice with the old vacumn, for this I can run the mattress twice. 

5) as for cleaning the vacumn parts, I shall check that tomorrow

A comparison between my old and new bed vacumn :

Which is better : 

Eczema : Coz of che-che’s eczema I always have to clean/dust her room more often than I clean/dust lil’ one’s room. Haha! Lil’ one will be heartpain if she knows about this. But I think I need to step up on vacumning che-che’s bed every week, everytime we change her bedsheet. I cannot follow my monthly schedule. Infact, ideally need to change her bedsheet twice a week. But she’ll complain lor … coz I only helped to change bedsheet & bed protector once for her - the time we moved in 🤣. She’s been doing it herself all these years coz it’s a struggle to handle her bed myself with no space to move the mattress out.

🥕🥕

Grocery shopping is such a chore. I rarely need large quantities, but supermarkets force you to buy in bulk. Honestly, I'd rather pay a bit more for loose items than watch a whole bag of onions or potatoes/garlic sprout and go to waste.

And this also explains why my spice rack looks the way it does. (Click HERE for post) Instead of fresh herbs, I rely entirely on pantry staples like onion powder, garlic powder, and parsley flakes to get the job done.

I've been desperately trying to extend the shelf life of my fresh produce. I've tried everything from specialized herb containers for coriander, parsley, and spring onions, to wrapping them in paper towels—and honestly, I can't even remember what else!

Ideally, I would use a proper vacuum sealer, but mine is boxed up in the bomb shelter. It’s just too much hassle to dig it out and pack it away just for one or two items. Instead, I resort to the Zwilling Fresh & Save system. The only issue is that the containers and bags occasionally leak air. I suppose I shouldn't expect them to last forever! I try to check and re-vacuum them every now and then, but on busy days, things slip through the cracks and ingredients still spoil.

I've also considered getting a dehydrator, but I'm worried it might compromise the taste of the food.

5th Aug @ 10.14am - they looked shriveled because condensation formed inside the vacuum-sealed bag, likely inflated by released CO2. Checking and resealing bags takes real effort. Who has the energy to check every single item in the fridge? Worse yet, family members push things around, hiding my ingredients at the back where I forget them.

I wiped the carrots dry and left them outside for three days because I was too busy. They still sweated after sitting at room temperature for a day. If I had known, I should have done this the moment I brought the carrots home.

Scrapped off the outside skin. Sliced and cut them. Need bigger cut carrots to make my Japanese curry and chicken stew, slices for stir fry vegetables. Maybe I should see if supermarkets sells frozen carrots. 

2mins blanch, 2mins cold water dip

Drying them

Chucked into freezer. Heading out for appt so will vacumn seal it when I’m back or maybe do it the next day. 

The next day … 

Look at the amount of bags I can pack with those 2.5 carrots. The girls don’t eat veggies and for some reason hubby don’t seem to enjoy carrots as much as I do, thus I can’t throw in a lot of carrots in our stir fry vegetables

Should I do the same with the potatoes? 

Another list to update on the fridge just coz my memory is not that good. List is not fully updated as I haven’t updated the minced meats and other rubbish in the freezer. 

松了一口气 phew!

Poor girls had to sleep without the aircon for so many nights. It was blasting out hot air! With the fan on and the window open, listening to people walking past our unit or hearing cars parking in the carpark is no joke. They’re not having good sleep I guess. And maybe when they hear the lizzie/s socialising, finding ❤️ my girls were freaking out but they can’t run to our sleep to seek refuge. There’s simply no space for them to sleep anywhere in our room.

Got a system 3 from Harvey Norman on 20th (Mon), arranged for installation a week later. 

We first changed 2 aircons in 2025, the other compressor was also making noise but we have to stretch our dollar longer. It’s about the same time all almost going kaput. 10/11 years already, some people say it’s amazing our aircon can last that long. Once installation done. Then it’s time for me to buy the brown paint and start painting back the exposed parts, I hope the paint company sells small bottle 🤣. I only need that little! Or maybe I should just ignore the eye-sore, DON’T look ⬆️ 🆙 . 

27th : arrived pretty early at 9+. Hubby and I sat in the living room while they did their work. 

I know the aircon people know what they're doing but ..... a flame. I guess is to solder something for the installation. I asked ah-lao no need to turn off anything? In my heart | can't help but think about gas. 💣💥 越想越怕 I can't help thinking about it. Pushed the leg couch away, unlock n slide the balcony grille gate. Get ready to run out with ah-lao if anything happens. Muahaha! Too paranoid or too safety conscious? Or too drama?🤣

The girls came back to a new aircon. “Yay! Finally I can turn on aircon!” Che-che is super relieved coz she’s been tolerating the 闷热 when her eczema flared up again recently. 

Bed vacumn - II

Been wanting to change out my bed vacuum. Saw a few from Taobao but eventually I chose a Japanese brand. 

9th May : Was walking around in Orchard while waiting for lil’ one to finish her therapy and passed by Tokyu Hands. Finally bought it after comparing the prices in various places, slightly cheaper in Tokyu Hands. 

16th May - one last vacumning our beds then it’s sayonara. Thank you for the last 9 years of service

On This Day - (10th May) #Reminders from FB#

10th May 2025

* with two girls 

I thought Tuesday was going to be my last trip to Flower Dome, but here l am again today. 我的心痒痒when che-che said she's meeting her friend to see tulips but I had things to do at home. Then .....the more I look at my flowers at home the more I wanted to go down again. Few hours after she left home i went.

It's really the last one unless I gila and decide to go down on Monday, their last day. 🤣

* attached a video collage 

10th May 2025

The bud yesterday. Stop! Stop! Stop! Slow down.

10th May 2023

I thought l am a cat #twolivestakenfromme# 😂

I went from being Empress Dowager to Cleopatra - laying down low on floor to grout. When I lay down low my back aches so I sit up, then dizzy. This went on and on so many times.

That's why it's taking me so long to grout just 3 places. I only do the grout lines where I couldn't reach last time for the toilets. As at this time (8.03pm), I'm still waiting for the master toilet grout to dry before cleaning off the excess. Then I can shower!!!! time to rest then next day to work like horse again.

Ps: when I was doing the master toilet. Hubby came into the toilet with a small fan for me. Wah.....I super touched leh! He must have seen how dirty I looked.

But hor .....coz he wanted to turn on the room aircon.

Chey! Make me happy for nothing!

After the electrician left, I went to regrout the kitchen.

Suppose to just clean off the part I didn't clean off last time (that was not easy to clean given the angle) n do section under the fridge, I ended up doing the whole kitchen 🤦🏻‍♀️

And grout the wall grout lines where the fridge is. I couldn't reach in the other time #missshortie# #shortarm#

10th May 2021

🤦🏻‍♀️ when I forgot to check out. I only realised this when I was going to Check-In into my class.

Happened to me a lot of times, coz most times I go into 🚗 and then do my FOC Grab driver job. Once back home also totally forgot abt it.

No worries. Before my tutors all start panicking n requests to do online lessons, I was there only from 1.20pm to 2.15pm to pack my lunch at SoPho n a grocery 🏃‍♀️. Was in 3rd level the whole time. (I didn't sleep in Parkway 🤣. Anyway the person was there in the evening.

#besafeeveryone# #rmbrtocheckinandout# #iamok# #irregardlessiwillstillmonitormyself#

10th May 2020

Truly appreciate your sweet gesture, Youli Song

10th May 2017

731 sleeps and 6 aliens (4 papa aliens and 2 babies) have tried invading my territory. Commander Teo's instruction is KILL ON SIGHT.

10th May 2016

Did my grocery run after dropping che-che in school.

It's so nice to go into a supermarket without the crowd. For the first time, I did my grocery slow coz no queue; no crowd. Well, actually the main reason is : in my blunder I deleted my grocery shopping list (c so I was literally walking aisle by aisle.

Better still, as I just learnt, it's 24hrs too!

Okay..but that doesn't mean I'll run out of the house in the wee hours

10th May 2016

365 sleeps since ...and guess what? I've not stepped into the gym

yet!

10th May 2015

They say kids are tech savvy, I certainly agree. Dunno how that girl figured out she could mirror her phone to the TV and start playing videos there. And here I am still keying "how to ..." into the search engine.

10th May 2015

Guess who chose this plant?

10th May 2014

😀她的造句真好笑😀

10th May 2014

My girl wants to see this school too.... I asked her why should we go? It's too far, out of her league, n it's not our targetted school.

Okay, real reason is .. I'm too lazy. So blardy hot!! I'd rather hide in the aircon room at home and nuah

PLMGS open house

10th May 2011

My whiteboard now - all cleaned.

Study table - partially tidied up. Haven't sort out the Top school exam papers. Need to tabulate the scores in my reward chart.

がんばって！

10th May 2011

Finally downpour. Yee ha! 

Doing the bor liao thing

The work around the house is not just confined to housework. There are days when I remove things from cabinets and clean the cabinets interior, days when I become Cinderella and go down on my knees to clean the grouts *giddy*, checking medicine expiry dates, organize things from left to right then from right to left on another day etc.. 

There are days when I have to do this kind of bor-liao organizing things -

😒 then it's time to reshuffle my spice rack. It's usually in alphabetical order, then I realised I needed more of one or two items than the other. Luckily I gave up the idea of re-bottling my Japanese and German curry powder long time ago if not I'd be playing strategic games with this rack.

Now "fixing this puzzle" again coz I had to add one item in. Sigh....getting myself a little busy doing stupid things.

#borliao# #inmysmallkitchenfindingspace#

So many stickers. Different kinds of curry, salt. Very interesting. Some herbs/spice mix are unheard 😂 of

Had to buy this low sodium salt in China just coz I ran out of my seasalt I packed for lil' one. She has tonsillitis which comes every 2-3 weeks for the past 2 years. I decided to let her try gargling at least twice a day, trying to keep it away. No joke lah! Keep taking amoxicillin is not good for her. So many MCs in school last time 🤦🏻‍♀️

Anyway, che-che refused to help me bring over some from home when she was due to join us so I have no choice but to buy. Cannot find seasalt in the supermarket. Low-sodium which according to lil' one extremely salty. I won't use this for cooking at all, infact I hardly use salt for my cooking (that's why my food tastes horrible). This is for her to gargle, make it easier for her to prepare the salt water. And also to use it to kill snails in my PES, I used to use my seasalt to kill them

🤣, atas death.

Did a quick check on expiry. So far so good, some just expired not long ago. Check back in 6months time 吧！

Clearing up

I spent today clearing out the magazine holders in lil’ one’s wardrobe. They used to hold her notes, exam papers from other schools, assessment books. But over the years, some of her notes got too big (like A3 size), so I had to stash them on top of the wardrobe. 

To declutter a house I must tackle one small space at a time, such as a single cabinet, laundry, bathroom, or kitchen corner. Because homes have endless nooks to fill, I refuse to buy extra standalone storage (esp for the yard with my mom’s and bro’s previous advice) and strictly limit my belongings to the built-in space provided by our developer and contractor. 

It’s no wonder my friends always ask me why I’m so busy—I’m constantly tidying up! I recently learned that a friend hasn’t cleared her only daughter’s room since primary school, even though she has already graduated from university and been working for a year. I’m the opposite; I declutter so frequently that when I moved into my current home with 12 boxes, the movers exclaimed, 'Only these boxes?' 

I am not a minimalist, but I am far from a hoarder. Periodic decluttering hits the sweet spot for me. It keeps my mind active and doubles as a great workout! 

At this rate, the next time lil’ one do her own decluttering at this spot will probably be when she starts working. Who knows, we might even get rid of this shelf and give her extra space in the room.

This photo from October 12, 2019, shows the shelf looking neat and uniform. All eight partitions are filled with blue ring holders that I searched high and low to match with the magazine holders

The lime green holders belong to Che-che. I cleared some out after her A-levels, thinking she might need them for uni. She didn't, but I still left a few in the top wardrobe. Today, I cleared out the rest and kept only six or seven. I used three on the piano to hold our music books.

These are still in good condition after 11 years, and they were expensive to ship from the US. It feels like a waste to discard them, but keeping unused items only creates clutter.

For my record and reference : Bought these ‘Bigso Box of Sweden storage box’ from The Container Store