On This Day - 23rd Aug #Reminders from FB#

August 23, 2011 at 12:21 PM ·

15 mins drive home : lil' girl keep complaining to me "I'm vy hungry, can u pls drive faster!", recite her pledge 我们是新加坡公园.. Arguing with me when I correct her the 公园. Sing song, In between complaining hungry.. N when I turn into my carpark I realize no noise. Lil' girl "fainted" from hunger.

I get this kind of unforgettable argumentative rides with her.

Comments in 2018 : This is my lil' one. Her yakking away is so like her. Tell her to stop talking, she still must complete her sentence though I told her I knew what she was going to say. Sigh...... will she still be so talkative in years to come?

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August 23, 2010 at 1:04 AM ·

Comment in 2018 : She was in P2. Yup! I did mention in my previous blog entry that life was so carefree then... 

" Why your life ... -entry drafted on 30th May #lateposting#

is so boring?"  This is what the man said to his dear daughter when he asked her what she was doing and would be doing later. Her reply was "studying" 

Did he not know that his daughters are not the only ones with no life and their life is boring? That the kids now will only be able to enjoy for only some time during school holidays and not the entire whole school holidays without being called back to school for classes / trainings etc..and in my girls' cases - Holiday Homeworks!!

Did he not know that the education path has become too scores-oriented? I used to wince my way through my primary school and didn't know what the heck was PSLE. Though I'm the youngest and mom would have gone through the two older siblings, her being illiterate in english, math and science didn't help either of us. Naturally we all got into our affiliated secondary schools. Moreover we were living in the east in Telok Kuaru, Upper East Coast, Riveria Drive, it made more sense to be close to home. I didn't do well in P6 and ended up in Normal Stream, still I turned out alright now but why did I put myself through all the stress and sleepless nights? Perhaps coz I want my kids to be better qualified than me and the only way there is to fight together with the rests. Unless the man decides to move the whole family to another country.. I'll gladly give up the fight. 

Our time and their (girls' time) is very different. We had the chance to let our hair down even on normal school days. School homeworks were unheard of. We weren't pressured to get into the school team so that we can DSA and fight with many students across Singapore trying their luck on this DSA route.  

Weekends
Since when the kids in Singapore have any life after they reach a certain point in school? In lower primary, we still had the time to jalan jalan on weekends. The moment lil' one hits lower primary, che-che was already in upper primary thus we didn't have much time to jalan jalan. 
Even if the kids don't have any tuition in the weekends, they will need the time to do their homeworks or tuition homeworks, or to study coz during school days they stay back till late on the average 2x a week. Even a meal time, sometimes small pockets of time is important, lil' one is buried into her book studying.  
(In girls' primary school. They start making P5 girls stay back for compulsory supplementary classes 3x week. And this year, lil' one told me the P4s have started their compulsory supplementary classes. Oh my! Soon, you'll hear a P1 kid needs to stay back in school. Well.... not in every school. In nephew's school, the P5s don't even need to stay back unless they're the "lucky selected ones")

Public Holidays
Public holidays now are precious time for them to quickly complete their school homeworks and studying. You think PHs, school will let them off? No! Even if it's CNY, because of the long holidays their schools will always give additional homeworks. Can you sense my frustrations? 
We had 2 PH in August, National Day (9th) and Hari Raya Haji (22nd). Guess what the girls were doing? Preparing for their Prelims while the kids played in the pool outside our house. Lunch time Most kids (esp those with parents fetching them to and fro school) will at some point of time eat their lunch in the car. Firstly, kids end school at 1.40 to 2.10pm. Whether they lived close to school or not, lunch time is rather late. For me, since home is on the average 15-18 mins away, eating in the car makes more sense. That way they get home to shower and do their homeworks. Whatever it is, I should say my girls are lucky that they get to eat their lunch at latest 2.20pm. Imagine if they were to take a bus home, which most kids does, lunch time would be at 3+pm. Who would have the appetite to eat? I wouldn't. I spent my money (was a latchkey child) buying bread or ice-cream at the mamashop. Though school was dismissed earlier as compared to now, still I can't eat my lunch at 2+ close to 3pm, what more now kids are expected to eat much later.    

Over-exhaustion

Heard that one of che-che's primary school friend fainted. Over-exhaustion. I'm sure at some point in time our kids would have burn out. Which explains why I am very strict over their sleeping time. I heard many school children are sleeping at 12am, 1am surviving on 4-5hrs sleep on a daily school day basis. It's no-no for me, they must sleep. Maybe that's why both girls also under-perform in school? Coz they don't spend much time revising their work. *wink*

So why are our kids going through all these (burn out, anxiety, stress, commit suicide) without the ministry doing something to protect our kids? Ai yah! Best is if we can get out of the stupid system.      

Make do with what I have (kitchen talk) - entry drafted on 3rd Jul #lateposting#

Having extra cabinets doesn't solve the problem. Well, that's my mentality now that I'm confined to small space.

A short conversation between mom and me came up as she saw me taking all the small kitchen appliances (airfryer, 1 pathetic corningware, steamer metal rack) out just to take out / put back the cutie slow cooker for her to boil pig's stomach soup for hubby. "So little space you have here." 

Me : Yah, no choice. Small space so need to have less but (perhaps) important items in the house.

Mom : You go and make another cabinet. Somewhere in your yard area, go and look for a space. Make a cabinet so you can put the items. 

Infact, she's not the first to suggest to me this. Brother suggested once too when he came to the house for a visit after we've moved in. Sure! I still have space in the yard. I still have empty cabinet spaces in the house, some small space in the kitchen cabinet. And I'm still so tempted to DECLUTTER the things at home.

My reply to her after that was that if we're given more space in the house, we will buy more things to clutter the house and that's the last thing I'd like to deal with. I'd rather have little space so that I can keep everything to the minimum. Everything, my style (click here). My frying pan is used for cooking all sorts of meat and vegetables and fish (mom complains that it's so difficult to fry fish in it), as opposed to the coloured-coded chopping board set to cut up different food items. I feel that's where contamination will likely to occur first with raw food instead of the frying pan. The frying pan also doubles up as a steamer. I remember when we first moved in our current house, she asked me to get a wok (she asked me to get a wok even when I was living in Punggol). I had no storage space and I hate to see things outside on the stove. Anyway, I'm happy with the minimal items I have. 

Small appliances  

1) Slow cooker : - Initially I had wanted to get rid of that cutie small slow cooker once I got the Tefal rice cooker which has multi-functions like claypot, slow cooker, porridge and many more. I can brew chinese herbs in the rice cooker but then... if I'm only brewing for 2 person, the rice cooker will be too big for the use. So I kept it until the day I go 'tao-hong' and decide to throw away items.

2) Toaster : - I don't have a toaster at home. I'll use my agar-ra-tion to toast bread using the convection oven. So far, it hasn't disappoint me though I have days when I'm multi-tasking and it took me a little longer time to get the bread out of the oven resulting a charred toast. 

3) Microwave Oven : - I had no intention of getting one as we had no space on the kitchen top. We can also heat up food over the fire or toaster. BUT the man had to come back with one one day, putting it on top of the fridge. Really ridiculous for me to bring the organ stool to the kitchen to step on it coz I can't bloody reach it!! We hardly use it too!  

4) Blender/ Juicer / KitchenAid : - With better technology, there's a magic cooker - Thermomix. Well, it does sound too good to be true for a person who can't cook for nuts. I can cook wholesome meals from scratch. This machine can help you cut, grind, steam, knead, blend juices. Basically I can get rid of my palm-size blender; the bulky KitchenAid after I pay a hefty price tag on the Thermomix. Technically, yes I can save the space of the palm-size blender which takes up no significant space in that pathetic cabinet BUT the Thermomix needs to be outside where the current KitchenAid is as it's bulky. Hell no way am I throwing away the heirloom to my kids!! It's one item which I love coz' I love to bake. And then I start thinking about the disadvantages of having Thermomix in my family. The girls are super fussy over their food. Even if I buy rainbow coloured veggies and whatever nots, they'll scrap it away. The man? He doesn't eat my cooking. Ha! For the girls, I prefer to cook their food while they're in school. I'm not the 100% have the time to prepare food for them while they make their way home from school themselves and have their food piping hot ready in time the moment they step into the house. So Thermomix must act as a food warmer which I'm not sure whether it is capable. Time being, I shall be happy with the stuffs I have at home.          

My opinion is “the more space you have; the more you will buy. So I’d rather have little space so that I can really keep everything to the minimum.  Wah.....mom cannot do Marie Kondo for sure.

Note : I've cleared one side of the kitchen top (where the sink is). It used to be laden with a multi-level shelf to put vitamins and bread spread. I've since removed them and put them in the cabinet and the whole space is bigger and I'm so happy!  

On This Day - 19th Aug # Reminders from FB#

August 19, 2012 at 5:35 PM · 

Girls had an enjoyable time in Kids Amaze, konked out in car. Nice place, will be back for sure.

Comments in 2018 : I bought the kids pass for lil' one on this day. But we have not used it yet! 

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August 19, 2011 at 10:34 PM · 

This is how self-motivated lil' one is. It's vy late alr n we just got back home, still she had to grab a book to do while sitting on the throne. Wah...臭臭！

Tell her to stop doing work, she still continue.

(She's comical, didn't expect her to bring into the toilet. We heard her counting in the toilet n peeked in to see the funny sight. 

Think she's vy interested in this book that's y.)

Comments in 2018 : I hope she continues her good studying habits next time

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August 19, 2011 at 10:45 AM · 

As u all know lil' one likes to talk, n her speech/words is clear. One day she suddenly speaking in tongues n sobbing. We all rushed out to see her ....a fly crawled on her leg for quite some time and she was so scared n nobody around her at that time at that time. 

I know it's bad but we really laugh at her.

Comments : Actually she's more terrified of lizzies. Seen her face turn pale white before.

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August 19, 2011 at 9:56 AM · 

One day I was scolding the two girls n threatened I'd buy them a cane each. "purple cane for you (looking at Che-che) and pink one for you (looking at lil' one)." turned to look at Che-Che n continued scolding. I heard a soft voice "but I don't like pink colour. I also like purple colour." and that innocent pouty girl looked at me. 

Wah...how to get angry?!

Comments : She's rather naive.  

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The babyface girl

My lil’ nottie girl student card issued 6yrs ago. Biting her lips instead of smiling 🤪

I hope she did smile nicely for her last taken pic in school for her secondary pass

Eclipse on 28th July - drafted on 30th July #lateposting#

Got the best treat of eclipse sighting over in Singapore for the second time this year. This July 28th eclipse can only be seen in certain parts of the world.

In Jan, the moon was not within our sight. I drove the girls out to the big open carpark. Not really an ideal place with the lights around us but it was a school day, we couldn't go far even if I had wanted to. It wasn't ideal to dump them alone at home while I drive to somewhere darker [In Singapore?? How much darker can we get? Pollution Ranks #1 here]. I have a girl (younger) who wasn't really patient and interested and kept asking if she could go home. The only happy souls are the mozzies - we provided food for them. 

Coincidently, hubby wasn't in town for both occasions. The siao wife will go outside and cheat on him with the moon. Haha!

Checked days before to see the rotational axis, glad that this time the moon will swing by infront of me until some time. 

Took lots of pics but outcome is not as good as those I see posted by the pros. I'm nowhere close to their standard coz my telephoto lens isn't as good as theirs. 

My telescope is as good as a rubbish coz it doesn't have equatorial mount so I gotta keep moving. In the end, I gave up on the telescope and zoomed in with my telephoto lens.

When I'm richer or maybe when and if I have the chance to live elsewhere, I'll invest in a better telescope.  

I managed to sight the full eclipse at 4.21am. At that moment I was cranning my neck coz it was partially blocked by a block. I managed to take pictures but they were too grainy. Looks almost like this picture below. As I zoomed into my own pictures, I saw stars too!

Next 2 pictures are taken from Singapore Sidewalk Astronomy FB page

Picture taken from The Astronomical Society of Singapore

Time and date of next eclipse :

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/singapore/singapore

July 16 2019 : https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2019-july-16

Dec 26 2019 : https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/singapore/singapore?iso=20191226

Term 3 Week 8

13th Aug

First prelims for both girls . Thankfully their dismissal time is almost close (half hour) to each other's.  I'm just so happy that I'm able to return home early everyday. I'm sure you can sense how frustrated I am over this exhaustive lifestyle. 

Two weeks of madness and I think che-che's will spill into Week 10 also. 

Slapped in between the O's EL Oral on 15th Aug. 16th and 17th is lil' one's PSLE Orals. 

I can't wait for this whole shit to be over. I'll pop a champagne. 

On This Day - 13th Aug #Reminders from FB#

13th August 2009
In MMI

On This Day - 10th Aug #Reminders from FB#

August 10, 2012 · 

I'm impressed. Lil' one did this unaided. No wonder she was grumbling away "so hard so hard" behind me

Comment in 2018 : Then she was quite capable. I have no idea what happened to her in the last few years but observed that she isn't as good as her sister. The only thing I love about her is her being hardworking. I guess this is most important right? Anyway, I'm so mentally prepared that she might end up in Normal Stream so ....... No hard feelings towards Normal Stream, I was in Normal too! But .... then again, sometimes she does surprises me. She isn't that stupid either?! Dunno what's wrong with her?   

In 5 days time, she'll be taking her first PSLE Oral - EL. Wish her luck man! 

On This Day - 9th Aug #Reminders from FB#

August 9, 2011 at 8:15 PM ·
Pledge Moment

Footnote : Aww....... she was at that age when she's so obliging to do everything (well almost everything) I say. She'd let me take pic of her while doing so. Now? The most unpatriotic girl (then again I am too!) who pretends to sing the National Anthem (don't we all do that when we were younger?) in school and ... perhaps in a year she'll turn into the horrible tween that nobody warn us about.  

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August 9, 2012 at 5:10 PM ·
Girl with specs and a "Prefect" tie... Haha!

Footnote : She never got to be the Prefect in school she wants. Well, really have no idea how school choose prefects coz during che-che's time and lil' one's time I do notice some girls really don't deserve to be a Prefect at all. I'm not saying this because I'm sore over that my girls never got a chance to be chosen as one. There's pros and cons to being a prefect also. I don't think we can commit to sending either of them to school so early, the old folks need a little more rest time. Anyway, she got the chance to be a Science Monitor this year. So..... let's see if she's given any leadership roles in Secondary school. 

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August 9, 2012 at 8:44 PM ·
Che-Che doing her school Chinese compo HW, asked me what is the falling sound called. I thought it was "peng"碰 but told her to double check with daddy. The lil' kapo girl overheard and answered so confidently "piak!"
Haha! So funny.

Footnote : Che-che was P4 and lil' one K2. Strangely, lil' one started off as hating chinese and refused to speak but this subject has turned out to be her forte. She's one cheena girl!
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August 9, 2014 at 8:18 PM ·
Che-Che's so thoughtful, to take videos of the NDP, going to send it over to daddy.
Hmm....I doubt it'll go through.  😜

Footnote : Oh boy! I hate to be reminded that during this period hubby went to Shanghai to work. I had to handle the girls and household alone. No help! It's no joke. It wasn't a good time coz' my mood was really bad. I kindda man-handled the girls in Army style, strict timing and ordering them around. If I didn't give orders, they'd be dilly dallying their time away. The Dilly Dally Queen is che-che. And every second counts especially in che-che's crucial year.

  
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August 9, 2015 at 4:26 PM ·
From Lilyann Café : chocolate ice-blended with oreo. After I served the drink, I realise I forgot chocolate chip. 😁

Footnote : We had moved into PV for 3 months and this year the girls are in Sec 1 and P3 respecticvely, I was trying to relax a little coz' I was over-stressed the year before. Though still no help with housework, I had (as usual) everything all planned down to details. Menu had to be planned properly as I try to finish up the foodstuffs within the week. It was at this same time, I decided to do a little more home-cook, home-made stuffs. This ice-blended was one of the home made stuff, the girls played a part in deciding what to put inside their drinks and helped out by finishing up everything. I don't have the time to do this now but I hope next year onwards I'm able to prepare more homemade goodies for them. Coz' I'm not going to care about lil' one's academic anymore!!...... I hope so...... 

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August 9, 2015 at 8:48 PM ·
Spending time nanoblocking

August 9, 2015 at 10:57 PM ·

Nice!

Haribo bear travelled to Rome

Footnote : National Day today in 2018 is on a Thursday. Prelims commences next Monday. Lil' one's PSLE Orals are next week too! 16th (Thu) is English Oral followed by Chinese Oral the next day. So the girls are studying, lil' one had been rushing her tons of homeworks. 

Che-che's tutor had wanted to come today at 5.30pm (usual time at 6pm) but I changed the date coz' we would like to watch the parade. And this would be the ideal time for them to relax too...  

Shucks! PSLE is in 7 weeks time! O's is in 9 and 11 weeks time.     

Reminder

of how cute this girl was.

On 5th May 2011 : 

Guess what's her punishment?

For talking too much!!! Had to keep quite for 30mins. I need a break! 10mins gone n she's doing well.

She still yaks too much. There are 3 other quiet people in the house, and she has to be the one to break the silence all the time. Wah seh!

Happy 88th Birthday - entry posted on 30th June #lateposting#

The grand old lady is "huat huat" years old. What first started as a private Primary English School in 1930 in a rambling seaside bungalow in Marine Parade with an initial enrolment of 197 pupils including 25 boys, who were later transferred to St. Patrick’s School in late 1932. Under Sr. St. Vincent de Paul, the school building was extended in 1939 with 8 new classrooms. By 1941, just before the outbreak of the war, there were 384 pupils. At the outbreak of the war, the school building at Martia Road was taken over by the British and became a military camp. During the Japanese Occupation, the school was used as a military base. During the war years, the school continued to function in Ceylon Road as Ceylon Road Girls’ School. 

Fast forward, this school has seen two generations of the girls in our family. Well, not as awesome as some with 3 generations of old girls. But ... there's a reason why I had to insist to put my daughters back into CHIJ Katong. I grew up in Katong and East Coast area so I do have some attachment to this place. Felt damn proud singing my school song "We look to thee for knowledge and truth. We look to thee for guidance and grace...."

Che-che at last minute decided to go for the carnival this year as she has not been able to go back for 2 years on Teacher's Day. She wasn't there to play games, she was there to chaperone her bossy sister. The only person who was so happy playing games at some of the stalls was lil' one. She had her duty at 3pm and we only arrived there at 1.05pm. We didn't even get to go into the hall and I didn't even get a chance to go into the canteen!! Lil' one was so excited playing games and she managed to exchange her tokens for sand art craft. 

Was told in 2 years time, at 90 years old there will be another carnival. And then the big one at 100 years old. Year 2030. Che-che would be 28 and lil' one would be 24. What will they be doing then? I'd be 55, will the teachers still be there? 

     

On This Day - 3rd Aug #Reminders from FB#

August 3, 2012 at 11:57 AM ·
"number 6"!

Comments in 2018 : The guy still shouts so loudly in the coffee shop. Now his daughter helps out in the stall and they've introduced some new items in their menu. I said I'll try it one day but since I don't go that often, whenever I'm there, I end up ordering my favourite shredded chicken noodle. Che-che has changed in her liking now, she prefers the soupy version so would order the soupy noodles plus her unhealthy fried wanton separately. It's still our favourite noodle at Roxy Square. I'm not sure if next year onwards we'll still be stuck in this area. I hope not coz I'm so sick and tired of this area! 10 years of shuttling to and fro this distance! It's long and tiring. But will miss this if not around this area. The auntie will miss her. Always give her a big bowl of soup and then when she does the Oliver "can I have some more soup?" they oblige her readily. 

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August 3, 2012 at 11:13 PM ·

She has alot of homeworks today!! Last homework for the day - making friendship band.

And mummy had to teach her...guess what I'm left-handed so she's trying hard to accommodate me

Comments in 2018 : In 2012, she was P4, still the relaxed mood. Now in 2018, I'm breathless and stressed and hmm.... my womanhood hasn't come for so many months. Not surprisingly, for che-che's PSLE it was the whole year. 

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August 3, 2014 at 9:48 PM · 
Kids jamming session. 
Ehh.......it's trashing 🎵

Comments from 2018 : Lil' one has lost interest in music. She told me all the while she hates music and was forced to play the piano. I'm hesistant in withdrawing her out. I don't want to give her the wrong message that she can give up things halfway just coz' she don't like it anymore. Infact, what does she even like? Swimming also don't like, art also don't like. Everything also don't like. She'll only grow up to know to study only. Boring! 

On This Day - 2nd Aug #Reminders from FB#

August 2, 2012 at 7:46 PM : 

Her results are out. A sigh of relief....she did better than usual for her abacus calculation. Normally in class, 10Qs only 1 correct ans. The best performance so far was 3 correct ans. that was the reason y I was hesitant to let her go for exams esp I had to make the hassle of changing their Berries class to accommodate the exams. But salute her "never-say-die" attitude. 

Oh yes, that day she came out of the hall n told me "mummy I love exams. I want to go for exams again". Huh? My faint heart cannot take it lah mei-mei!

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August 2, 2015 at 5:38 PM · 

First time I'm doing a dump-and-go birthday party any of my girl is invited. Somehow can't help but worry .....if she'll behave herself n eat when it's time. If in her mischief run n fall into the deep pool....

Comments now : When I picked her up from the party. Host told me she ate some food and even asked for more. Then...... the shocker came. Host whispered to me "she told me 'my mummy allow me to drink Coke'. " Holy shit! This girl can lie through her teeth! Of course host told me she drank about 3 small cups. I can't possible pump her stomach can I? How to trust this girl?   

Missing the Valley of Death 死谷国家公园

Photo credits : by my daughter

I hope I have the chance to go back to Death Valley again. Not in summer, it'll be too hot but then that's the time to get nice shots of milky way too! 

On This Day - 20th July #Reminders from FB#

20th July 2014
I wrote : OMG! So funny!

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20th July 2011

Chat bet KZ & Ari. KZ : wat do u 1? AuntyZet buy 4u. 
Lil'1 : I like anything u gimme (pause) 
Lil'1 : eh! Aunty Zet, u bd 1st. My bd in Sep, u in August. 
KZ : what r u buying 4 me?
Lil' girl : I'm going 2 放屁 (pass flatulence) in a bottle n give u. U see d bottle eh so pretty; so nice. U open it n smell n then n then u faint. ROFL!! Can't believe she actually said that!

My familia - entry posted on 17th Jun #lateposting#

Had a funny thought about this family of mine. How noisy it is....when lil’ one is at home.

The thing they say about how a zodiac sign of a person can tell you generally what kind of person he/she is, is definitely true.

The head of the family, the man is a goatie. 

I’m a rabbit

Che-che is a horsie 

Lil’ one is a mad doggie. Haha! 

The 3 docile animals are happily grazing in the fields while the only mad sheepdog is running around barking (yakking) non-stop. 

On This Day - 15th July #reminders from FB#

July 15th, 2017 @ 2.10pm
I wrote "A game of badminton with daddy"

Making faces at daddy when she won. Then complained when she lost. Haha!

 Wow! I didn't know I managed to get this shot of the lil' Tigger

Actually she does show a little talent in badminton. Not talented in ballet, which she loves but surprisingly badminton. She asks to take up badminton as CCA in secondary school but with 3x a week commitment, I'm not sure if I should let her. Afterall, based on experience with che-che, so what if she was so committed in Band, when she had a biased teacher and ultimately she didn't want to try to DSA via Band, I find absolutely no use to be so fully committed in CCA.

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July 15th, 2016 @ 2.07pm

I wrote " Fridays are "打战” day. Always need to pack dinner for the lil' one. She comes back home later in the night with three bags (ballet, foodbag,tuition).

I gotta carry her heavy schoolbag home! I also 打战."

Ever since she stopped ballet sometime in late 2016, she saved so much time in trying to complete her school homework using that time. And this year, her schedule changed as I pulled her out from one centre to another with earlier timing. Still, she goes to 5.15pm (always up at 5pm) tuition with not much time in between after school ends at 3.40pm. This girl likes to dilly dally snacking in MacD so I'm smarter by packing her food to let her eat in the car on the way to Parkway. After tuition ends at 7.15pm, she gets down at around 7.30 to 7.35pm (busy lifts!!), we reach home late and she's always rushing through homeworks. Shit! I hate this life!!  

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July 15th, 2011@ 12.16pm

I wrote " Camping scene every Fridays : 

Lil' girl doing her school homework after her lunch. After this, she'll sleep in the car until I drive in to pick up Che-Che."

In 2011, che-che would be Primary 3. She has no CCA on Fridays coz she was in a niche CCA which has sessions on Tuesdays. She ends school at 1.10pm, lil' one ends school at 11.30am so it didn't make any sense for me to go home and then go out to Marine Parade again. Anyway, what is that (I think) $1+ to $2 parking fee in a sheltered MSCP compared to rushing about. 

Life was so much easier than. Especially with school life. 

Things get horribly busy the older the child gets.   

1st Open House - TKGS - drafted on 28th May #lateposting#

Open houses are meant for visitors an access to a secondary school, tertiary school and learn more about it. Open houses provide students with a unique opportunity to get information so they can decide whether or not to apply to the school. In lil' one's case, she is only keen in this school. And honestly...... I pray really hard that she 梦想成真。Looking at her grades now...... she gotta work really hard for it.

Ideally, it's best to go to schools' OH when child is in Primary 5. Reason being, some schools hold their OH on the same day, and it's not really possible to go to 2 or 3 in a day. Some parents I heard are super kiasu - they bring their kids there in Primary 4. 
But we didn't go any last year coz of her tuition. In che-che's time, we went RGS, (not that she was able to make it there but it was a good inspiration push for her to work harder) NYGH (I wanted to see the school and took the opportunity since I've got a pawn ticket - her!), Cedar (was her dream school. And I have to remind you that we or rather I told hubby if he wanted to find a new house, to get it somewhere along the NE line. What a stupid idea from me. In the end, she couldn't even make it there. Very sad, she was so confident.), PLMGS too when we went for the DSA talk. Lil' one was all so excited when I told her about TKGS OH [well she better make sure it's not 'dreaming  of the school' dream school]. Made a switch for her Math tuition to another day.

Saw so many familiar faces, a lot of KCP girls go over TKGS. Bumped into S, my long time friend and R, another KCP PV whose older daughter is in the school.   

She was keen in their Badminton CCA. Lo and behold, practice is 3x a week!! I'm already grouching with che-che's twice a week Band CCA. The only CCA I checked with once a week is Girl Guides. 

She played with the seniors and I'm quite impressed with this girl. Even though she aint that fantastic but she was better than what I expected. I expected her to play badly too coz' she was in slippers but she was still alright in the game.

With another tuition in the afternoon, we left the school at 12plus.  

I sincerely hope after the visitation, she feels motivated to work even harder and not be so slackish in her answering techniques. 
Or shall I be more gangho and buy her a set of uniform to hang it up? Haha! That's what I did..... I still have that Cedar Girls uniform nicely packed at home.  

#thisgirlneedsmorepowerfulprayers#  

School hols

Sometimes I love school holidays; sometimes I hate it. Probably one of the reason that I love school holidays is that there are ample parking spaces for me. 

Did it mean that 70% of the  "car population" come from the parents sending their kids for tuitions? 

At any time, I'm sure some would have left the country for a vacation. However the change is relatively obvious. 

Usually on Fridays, I'll be lucky if I can get a parking lot on the third level in the multi-storey carpark. And on Saturdays, I'll need to go all the way up to Level 7 in Parkway. Now, I'm able to even park on the second level and 5th level!! 

9th June - the date today. Second week of school holidays and it does seem long and draggy. Not that I'm complaining.... but I'm not looking forward to Term 3 either.    

Seeing stars

It’s been weeks since I managed to see the galactic sky as thick clouds had blanketed the sky. I think only once we managed to see the moon and Che-Che exclaimed “wow! I haven’t seen clear sky for quite some time.”

Last night, I checked on the sky condition and for the first time I saw 64% on my screen. Immediately took the time out to look from the PES. 

Aricia was able to see the dim Orion belt which I can't. 

Yay! Pray hard for more clear skies. 

Reminders - Che-che

12th Sep 2013 

Something never changes, still happening.

The 'unstoppable' girl. Finding ways to sneak in her reading time. "Ay! Ah girl ah...mummy walk out awhile u pretend stop ur work n read the book." 

I spend all my time sitting down next to her when she's doing work to "Call her back". She gets distracted so easily. Lil' one on the other hand is more disciplined. I am able to quickly run to do housework knowing that she'll be seated down doing her work. But ....... lil' one is not as smart as che-che. Quite pitiful right?

Missing our Miss Subaru

On Jan 19th, 2014 we said goodbye to "my car", a trusty companion for 6 yrs. Miss Subaru endured the kids bopping up/down in the car, had aliens in the car. But with Miss Subaru, she made me a little smarter in parallel parking and was able squeeze into any small impossible lots. 

Parked alongside hubby's car for the last time. I hope the new owner takes good care of it. 

Bye bye my Little Miss Subaru.

Since then, we were back to having just one car- Nissan. Few months later, hubby went over to Shanghai for work. Then when he came back to Singapore in 2016? He went to buy a small second car for himself to commute to work.

Soon, next year Nissan will reach it's decade age. For the first time, we kept a car this long. Usually the car will be with us for 4years before the value depreciates even more but ... I guess prices were too high. 

Hubby asked lil' one what car she wanted. "7 - seater!!" she exclaimed. She requested for Nissan and he obliged her. Wah! He listens to her huh?

On this day - 4th June #reminders from FB#

4th June 2014 
I wrote : "All packed and ready to go"

* had to keep reminding her to hold daddy's or mama's hand tight tight. Cannot let go and run around, later get kidnap.

She's excited to "take aeroplane" without mummy. I think she will enjoy better without me coz' no one to nag at her. I'm jealous. I truly deserve the break. Maybe I should travel on my own next year once lil' one is in secondary.*