Class

Had been looking forward to Anna's class since the beginning of August.

The class was kept small with 3 "aspiring bakers". I came home with a wider knowledge. Anna's class is fun coz' it's so small and personalized.

Everytime I come back home with new tips from the professional, makes me look forward to more baking classes & my "still haven't signed up" Wilton Decorating Class.

Here's my cake :

Ps: I'm so pleased with my piping skills. Ahem....more to come. Baking fever!!

Homeschool?

I watched the recorded 新加坡妈妈 earlier on today, and really salute the mom for homeschooling her children. She's one of those increasing mothers who have the 300% zeal in nurturing their children. I can't! I am not lazy at all, I do my best to prepare materials but.... I'm tired. Perhaps it's not an excuse coz' if the other mummies can do it, why can't I? I really wonder how they cope.. where do they find the time to find materials. As it is, I am already sacrificing my sleep to prepare materials. But I'm tired! I mean it! The only time I sleep early is when I'm sick and down, that's the time I tell myself to rest now so that next day onwards I can 'chiong'.

Would I homeschool my children? Infact I feel that the materials I have at home is good to start a homeschool (of course still need to expand more) but would I make sure that my monetary expenditure is used up to the maximum?? Ehh.... let's just say my answer is a straight NO! Not when I have 2 difficult kids to handle. One - very ah nia nia. The other keeps fighting with me over the pencil and refuse to let me hold her hand to guide her.

I can give my children an early start + more sessions with them at home, but to have them with me 24/7, 7/365, 365/12??? It's not only I die; they die too! Coz' I'm so impatient - I may end up killing my children.

But honestly, like what the mother said " it pays off. " I am happy to see my che-che able to recognize words, to read a sentence and then to read a book on her own. " and the best reward is to have additional knowledge of things in her teeny weeny brain. But like what MH says I tend to lose patience with her coz' I've put in the effort and she's expected to know. It's not only me who feels that she can do it, even her Berries teacher told me " that she knows how to do, the only thing is she's very 粗心大意 - (negligent)" So I do flare up when she gives me wrong answer.

Homeschool? Still No! Not when I am quite score-oriented.

I really wonder if I'll have sufficient time next year. Although they're both in the same session
with them coming home with me at the same time, I will have more than enough time to give them home sessions. ?? Possible?? I really hope so, but I think I'll still be fighting for time. Coz' they will still need their shower + lunch + nap. Which will be a draggy lunch.
I will need to figure out if the 'free period' I have is sufficient for me to prepare materials. Don't forget I bought a book and wants to do it with mei-mei.

Poles Apart

I talked about the scaredy cat older girl, now I talk about the brave lil' one.

They're really poles apart!

The lil' one is unlike her sister whining all the time. (If you don't see but hear them, you'd think the mei-mei is che-che and vice versa.)
Lil' one is brave and independent, not shy and very polite but also very lor soh... (KZ was telling me in the nursery she kept calling this lady "ah ti" while she was BF-ing. At least that lady was so patient and polite to reply to my lor-soh girl)

She had a blister in her ankle and she didn't complain at all..........infact we only realised it when we got back home and took off her shoes. If it was Athena, oh my! that girl would have started complaining and have her name recorded in the Guinness World Record.
She'll try things (well most of the times) and wants to do it her way... but at least she's more daring then her sister.

I've said this before, she's more polite than her sister (hope she keeps it this way). Not shy, she's gone up to strangers and very kapo to look at them. Once she even helped a man with a few bars of soap; took and gave it to him coz' she saw him putting one in a bag. LOL

Very independent. She'd go up on her own and play - not afraid, which is very worrying too coz' our eyes have to be fixed on her. Then at home, although she likes to play with che-che. When it comes to bedtime, just tell her "bedtime" and she'll immediately plant a kiss to everyone and walks into the room. It's very unlike her sister who still wants to sleep on our bed and then I have to carry that pui pui girl back into her bed.

U think she'll pluck her own teeth next time?? Will have to wait and see.......

She's got my scaredy cat genes

Athena's tooth is shaking and she still refuses to extract it.

Hubby and KZ offered to do it if she's afraid of the dentist, and still she scream and cried. I asked her to open her mouth to see how shaky it is, it's ...... I can even pull it out (if I want to ahem.... if I dare to). I mean she trusted me so much to open her mouth for me but when hubby asked her to open her mouth to see, she closed her mouth tightly.
I assured her that I'll carry her while daddy pull out for her, she refused. So she shouldn't be afraid, in actual fact I'm scared too! Think when and if I'm the one who's really hugging her, I'll be closing my eyes.

Hubby said "scared for what? Last time Daddy pulled my own teeth", I had to convince her "ya lor..you see your mummy dare not pull out so my teeth are so ugly...." I couldn't complete my sentence coz' I was biting on my own tongue, I'm a hypocrite. I'm like trying to encourage someone to jump into the ocean when I dare not do it myself.

Shucks! I'm scared like shit now. My bottom wisdom tooth is cutting into my gum and painful but okay, my excuse is I need to find a time. (Can't do it this weekend coz' I have a class to go on Sunday, what if I fall sick??) Truth is, my daughter's scaredy behaviour is freaking me out even more.
Useless mother!!

Parking offence

It's a nightmare to any drivers when you see one small strip of paper nicely tucked in the wiper. And then you call it suay, " I've just missed by that few minutes. If only I didn't stop by the shop etc... maybe I should see if the warden is still around."
I had that same feeling too and wanted to look for the warden to ask :
"how the heck can I get a summon in my own parking lot??"

I made a quick call to Sengkang office to enquire and I remember she mentioned about the carpark number. I told her I don't know what's the number but it's (gave my block number) and place of offence is given as another carpark number. Anyway the lady said she will get back to me the next day.
On my way home, I looked up into the carpark board as I was driving in. And the place of offence coincides with the summon I received!! So if the lady told me our season parking is with a different number ... that means the staff in the office gave us a wrong carpark number. Not our fault!!
Now my question is >> my carpark usually have "visitors" coming in the morning, afternoon (maybe) and late in the night. So how the heck did I manage to escape from those summons then?

*yakkings*

24 hours is not enough for me, I'm fighting for time; I'm fighting to keep myself awake; I'm hoping for someone to invent a medicine where we can go without sleep & still am functionable.

Miss Octopus
I'm like an octopus now.
Study table is messy with the photo album, goash! I'm never that messy at all and this is definitely an eye-sore.
Side table next to my bed is neatly stacked up with things I need to do/scan. Notes to remind myself and crossed out once done - which ahem..... not much being crossed out at the moment. My constant over-tiredness and brain & eyes shutdown in the night; infront of lappie don't help much.

Got to quickly finish what I have on my side table + study table asap. Target date : before September. Try to achieve that.
Birthday preparation : must try to finish all the nitty gritty stuffs before September too! *jia you*
On the hindnote, one parcel out of 2 came yesterday. Excited! And tried packing some stuffs into the loot bags. I've tried not to be over-buy spend too much so that things can fit in... but alas! one item is too big. Sigh... sometimes I wonder if I really put in too much things in loot bags, I'm either too generous or stupid (well.. they benefit from my stupidity)
Guess what?! I miscalculated the girls' favors and for the blowout I'm short of 2, but I reckon the two sisters can share 1 blowout. Either that or hoping one girl don't turn up. Haha!! *evil* I don't think I want to order and pay double shipping charges and also worry if shipment will come in time coz' it's basically one month away from her party.
I dunno what's wrong with me, I've been miscalculating things. I had to make another wasted trip to Spotlight today after my last trip on Monday, just coz' I miscalculate the number of guests. In the end, I spent additional 3x ERP gantries charges (2 on the way home). Yay... I could have done it another day, but I doubt I'll have the time to gym on my own on Mondays to be near PS and drop by on the way home. So it's either I do it today or have to take another day. I'm 'biah-ing' against time.

* panic button activated *
I have been kept busy editing tracks for Sawako - all languages except English. So that I can send it out to this Shichida mummy in KL.
It never crossed my mind that we can share jobs. She knows how to edit tracks with the speed reading, I just found out how that my Pinnacle Studio can edit/cut tracks. (I still can't figure out how to do the speed adjustments on my software) . Anyway, I suggested she do the difficult job of speed-reading tracks (actually not difficult for her, she's a Computer Science student) and I'll do the Sawako cards + tracks. Smart hor? (which only comes too late!!)
Anyway, I've been corresponding with this mummy for quite a long while. And together we've shared alot of things between us. It's good to have mummies support.
Yay! Mummies unite!!
I saw Pinnacle has version 12 (and I have v9), there's this called Ultimate 12. Woah! Very nice, must get hold of this.
Okay, so now what to do with that Readboy I bought? I'm going to sell it, no need for that now.

Anyone interested in this?



It's sold at $398, I bought at $360 from a mummy -she had to open one pack used one book. Selling it at $350 - I flipped the book, my children didn't even touch it! Everything's in excellent condition.
Please leave a message here. Thanks!

comes with 20 books 12 books of Global Start 8 books of Fairy Tales -The 3 little pigs, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Goldilocks, Golden Goose, Hansel & Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack & The Beanstalk

Tidying up place / getting rid of things
Hmm.....somehow I can't wait for them to grow older faster. So that I can throw some things, sell the toys and flashcards away. Think by then I should organise a garage-sale from home so easier to clear them.
I've already vacumn-packed Aricia's can't-wear-anymore clothes, dunno why can't bear to throw them away/or donate them. I'm definitely not having a 3rd child to recycle them again, so it means sooner or later I have to discard them but I feel a part of my child is gone with the clothes?!?!

Photo papers
Really disappointed. Ran out of my adhesive photo paper. , I tried looking for it in Challenger and can't seem to find it anymore. Even hunted around the shops in Sim Lim & Funan for this or something similar with no luck. Not even any self-adhesive photo papers around?!
I surfed the net for this, found out it's been discontinued. Suay! I thought ladyluck was on my side when I found this online.

It says 'Photo Quality' - goash! The one I used is 1000 times better!! But no choice, I had to use it since I paid $%^& amount on it (online). sians*

Teacher's Day
Teacher's Day is approaching. The school will be closed from 27th to 30th, so it means I'll have to bring the things over to school on 26th.
Last year, I forgot all about it and had to get the pressies at last minute and no time to place order for a cake for the teachers. This year, the last year I'm doing this for the teachers in LCCC, I thought of getting her to do gifts (again) and I'll do some cuppies for them. In the end, I decided that I shouldn't carry too much things on my back when I can't even manage now. So bought gifts for the teachers + ordered cake.
Only need to print the labels + card?

Miss Octopus here again
Now as I am blogging this, I'm printing one set of flashcards. Hee! I'm not suppose to do this now, but buay tahan see so many icons in my lappie. Try to do a little housekeeping in lappie. Sometimes I think I'm crazy... I mean how many things can I do with one pair of hands? I look in our room and saw the folder with Athena's nursery & K1 crafts. Messy! Must scan & take pictures to keep as momentos and then throw them away. Then gotta clear the YP magazines after sifting through what I want. Need to declutter my home, my cupboards. See lah! Seems like I always have things to do.
And my hubby is so free until .... the simplest task of booking a hotel also he dowan to do ask me to do. Don't do; don't do lor!! I heck care!

Hungry / bake
So much things to do that I'm feeling really hungry.
Want to bake, want to try to do macaroons for some time already. I have the recipe but.... would you believe me if I tell you that I've never tasted it before. Suaku!
So on Monday, while running errands and shopping for Shy's present. Call it fated that the shop accepts cash payment only and I don't have much with me. At basement near the ATM is Canele!!
While admiring my Caraibe at Canele, I saw some macaroons and decided to try it out fr
It's nice but I'm not doing any justice to the photos.
I need a breakkie from all these ... need to bake to relax but ..... Argh!
Meanwhile, something to fill me up for the time being until I am in Isetan Scotts.

The children's favourite star potato and my favourite vegetable croquette

The joy of having children

many a times we have the elders say "a family is not a family without children."

Many parents would agree with me that their lives have never been the same (until they grow up and leave the house) since. Their lives are filled with laughters, anxieties, angers and noises. Did I just say noises??

We have two noisy kids at home with superbly loud voices (all thanks to the gao-li-shen I took), two girls who don't behave like girls (even Iggy is more well-behaved).
Two kids who most of the time play together & sometimes fight. Two kids who simply love one another because one looks up to her elder sister and keeps calling che-che and another who loves feeling good/proud about being the da-gar-che.

A cute and funny scenerio in the car : (only short distance from Rivervale Mall to home)
Athena : "A, B, C, D, E, .....Z. Won't you sing with " (pause)
Aricia : Eh Mo !! (Elmo)
2 of them : hee hee hee hee hee
the whole cycle repeats for the next 5-6 times with them looking at one another and laughing

Such joy............

Happy 43rd Birthday, Singapore!!

Happy Birthday, Singapore!!

Still like those songs but this year.. I didn't sing like a patriotic Singaporean. I was having my dinner (will be choked on dinner). Athena sang the songs and she has the same problem with me when we sing our National Anthem. "bersatu or bersaru??"

Oh! You should hear her say her pledge. Definitely a much greater improvement from 2 years ago when she said "to build a dying society". Hey! 2 years later she's older and understands more.
>
>
>
"to build a chrysanthemum society"
(* bang head*)

Athena ...

keeps yakking away while we were watching the opening ceremony. Oh boy! She's even more talkative than me.

She was so interested when the teams came out, noticing the flags and trying to identify the countries. Then there are some where she can't recognise the flags but read the names on the screen and said she saw it in her book. I'm talking about all those remote countries hor!
She kept asking about.... "where's Myanmar?"

Like I said she kept yakking and yakking that we weren't paying much attention to her. I have no idea what she was talking about a big country.. I heard something like "the country so big hor?? The country is big like 'Roos'."
Funny! When she's talking sense we didn't pay attention when she came up with a funny word we heard her. Hubby asked "what Roos?" "Roos lor! A country. The country very big." After some time I realised and said "it's Russia not Roos (Rus)."

Umm........don't think she don't pay attention or remember things. She does, just that sometimes she irritates me/makes me angry.

Olympics 2008

I never paid much attention to all the opening or closing ceremonies. Infact I don't pay much attention to the games, I do like to watch syncronise swimming though!

I gave up giving Athena her Maths lessons, instead declare an off-day for her when the spectacular dazzling opening ceremony started.

I'm awed by the whole thing and I felt very different when I watched it. Like the others Chinese who had their eyes glued to the TV and what hubby said "the China office is close today. Whole China off day." "Of course it would be, the whole of China is looking forward to this, considered a big thing for them."
One by one, the performance not only star dazzled the spectators in the stadium, it dazzled me. I thought to myself, I feel proud that I'm a chinese. You know that feeling ??...... that you thought China is not capable of doing but they prove otherwise to you and then you try to dig up a root and say you have a part in China? Hee!

China proved it to the world despite all the negative events that happened "riots, earthquake, bomb" that nothing can weaken them. No wonder years ago, hubby was saying that he'd like to migrate to China (with me showing my funny look). "hey! you know China is going to be the No. 1 country next time." Well he's not wrong, look at how much the country is catching up with the world.

* blush blush*

sister told me I had to blog this down.
On Monday, sister insisted I try her car to "feel" the weight of the car to feel the difference. Show off! It was a manual car, first I had to adjust the side mirror. Asked her "where's the button?" "on the side, right hand side?" (press - window came down. I brought up the window and still looking for the button) "right side?" (then she tells me I had to use my hand to push out the side mirror) ?!?! Yah lor.... manual car is so useless lor! Everything's to be done manually!!

What I had to do was to drive the car out of the lot and drive to the adjacent carpark. And since I haven't driven a manual car for so many years, I must say that I'm confidently hopeless! I actually 死车 5 times!! Can you beat that? 5 times! I know it's about the clutch and stepping on accelerator and what biting point and then changing to gear 2 etc... I was so bloody afraid the car might just go too fast forward and dare not step on the accelerator too much so the car 死车, coz' I didn't want to ram her car (breaking the guitar strings was minor then crashing a car) and kill one old man who came to see why this car is stucked.
To appease my sister and to pay my debt of breaking her guitar strings, I tell the whole world I 死车 3 times when I was trying to come out. Haha!!
The funny thing was I was trying to reserve the car on a dead engine. I had to restart her car.
I never had these much problem when I was going through lessons. Umm..... old already cannot co-ordinate. I'm so close to manually use my legs to move the car. "You really cannot drive manual car meh? You better blog this down!"- she said.
And why the heck I listen my sister to blog about this so openly? Coz'
number 1 : I'm stupid
number 2 :I'm so thick-skinned!!
But what the heck, I share about everything pleasant, happy and funny here - I keep everyone entertained at my expense. But next time when you do see me in public - please don't remind me about the 死车

**************************************************

*blush blush* number 2 :
I never fall asleep while cutting my hair, I'm always busy talking to the hairdresser. But on Tuesday, I feel weary after talking to the hairdresser for less than 10 mins and.... all I knew was she had to push my head back a couple of times. I was that tired!
When I was paying $$, the girls kept looking at me. I wonder why..... did I drool?

***************************************************

*blush blush : number 3 :
Gf MH would know this, I found it hilarious too.
I was working out really hard yesterday that ............my padding slipped and dropped to make me look like a 4- breasted woman. Ha! Lucky thing it didn't drop on the floor.... but all ladies around my area so shouldn't be a problem.

Suai ! Handsome! 잘생긴

He's so cute! Nice bod too! *wolf whistles*

오지호, my ................................

wait! my hubby's not reading this is he?

*caught in this show. Funny show!

Bake

Decided at last minute that I needed to rest. Rest? Not really when you're whisking and sweating out...but well it's something that I enjoy doing. And I've put on hold my Oreo Cheesecake - I've finally baked it!!!

Getting ready. Wow! So much Oreos!! 1 lbs 4 oz , approx 735+gm.
This is the first time I'm doing a crust but not the first time doing cheesecake. Okay.... the first time I baked cheesecake was before I knew my hubby and it was those premix from Japan I bought. So this is the first time for me to start from scratch.
Back to the crust, I realised I had some leftover so kept it aside first.
And when I poured the filling in. Strange? They mentioned 9 inch pan, mine is 9 inch what?! How is it that I have so much leftover? No choice I grinded more oreos to make another crust in a bigger tartlet pan. Read : tartlet pan - how "smart" I am. (no wonder so much leftover)
*ding* smells like Famous Amos - really the crust is nice but ugly (look like volcano). I laughed at the sight, I think maybe I put too high so it spilled over.
See the mess
I would have given the bigger piece to mom but it looked ugly, so I gave the nicer looking one to mom. Shucks! It didn't rise up much so I'm stuck with thin slices... maybe it's good coz' the more you eat cheese; the more jer-lat you feel.

I had to decorate the cake, so I took out the whipping cream I bought to try to whisk whipped cream. First attempt in this too, was contemplating if I should get a canister of whipped cream but don't get to use much and waste $$.
It didn't take long for the cream to turn out nice and I'm happy. But I was over-zealous and then.......it turned watery with curds. I thought whisking more should be fine so tried but got worst. Hubby then said "you don't know meh... you whip cream too long it becomes butter?" Huh? Butter? I didn't question him further but thought since he went Shatec before he shouldn't be wrong, right? I wasted $3+ but I guess it's okay coz' I learnt something new today (I found some info out on the internet later - should have done homework earlier)
Since I didn't have any cream, I tried to finish the last bit of chocolate frosting. I piped but then dodo bird me forgot that it's not stiff enough so it started to form 'puddles' instead. Hee!
Very thin hor? Looks nice......... the crust is nice but it would have been nicer if I had planned it & prepare the crust a day earlier
must present it nicely to convince people to try the cake
It's nice!! Really!

Bon appetit'

成功 or 失败? Taste is not bad but alot of mistakes here and there. It's okay, ganbatte the next round

Athena & her tootsie tooth

We brought her to the dentist on Saturday in Kovan.

The dentist says "to pull out but it doesn't guarantee that next time she don't need to use braces", when I mentioned about teeth crooked etc... "but it's still not that shaky, she will need injection and gel and ..." did he mention anything else? I couldn't hear coz' I almost freaked out myself. You see lah, this mother so useless act brave but chicken out in the end. So we asked the dear girl what she wants to do (honestly I won't feel comfortable seeing that front part boh-geh), as usual she's shy infront of strangers.

So we left with an advice from the dentist, apparently none of us are prepared. Haha! And for that advice which anybody can tell us costs us $10. Dunno to say cheap or stupid of us.

(anyway she was still excited about the tooth fairy leaving her $$)

Hubby then said "ai yah, I pull out her teeth next time. Last time we also never see dentist what?!" Quite true.... I think we're strange parents, never instilling the practice of visiting the dentist regularly.

Aricia

She loves and adores her che-che. I'm so jealous!! I come home with che-che, she'll run to her shouting "che che...." and hug her.
I hear her saying "I wan che-che" very often too.

Actually I must be thankful that they don't really fight. It's coz the che-che is tolerant.Kids are the same, they do fight occasionally but che-che will make alot of noise but still... I don't have to declare war and start taking sides at home. Phew!

She's been really sweet, everytime before she sleeps/naps she'll go to everyone and "ki kiss" (walks to us) "papa..ki kiss.....ah buah" *kiss* ,"che-che....ki kiss.....ah buah" *kiss* ,"mummy..ki kiss....ah buah" *kiss*
Lately too, she's been climbing up onto che-che's bed to the hair accessories box and she'll take out a hairband and put it on. She comes up to us and asked us "nice?" Then twice, she complimented herself "nice ehh........"

Another funny thing which she can relate to us is when she accidentally knocks her head against the wall (very careless). She'll say "head (touch head) dong dong."

Miserable

Feeling miserable the whole day.

Day 1 of bringing Ms Subaru out.
The childrens' response.
Athena was excited but she didn't get to sit next to mei-mei coz' it's a 2 seater behind. Compromised they both took one side each with teddy bear in the middle; unbelted.
Aricia cried; screamed. She was afraid of the new surrounding (I thought she wouldn't know) and therefore refused to get into her carseat, KZ dare not didn't know how to help me. Only the mother can do the job - forcefully put her in without feeling the "heartpain".
I didn't expect the struggle so I was a lil' late. The night before, I had the intention of bringing Aricia to the sinseh in the morning after I drop Athena in school and leave for Aricia's class from the clinic. However this morning, I woke up and heard an even more phlegmy cough from Athena and so I decided that I need to do my crazy shuttling between 2 clinics (Athena - Dr Lee, Aricia - sinseh). In the car, I realised that I wasn't going to make it in time for her class so brought the 2 of them to the sinseh instead. I really hope to give the sinseh one last chance to help Athena. Too much of western medicine's not too good for children especially. Then the sinseh said "are you sure you want to bring her to school?" "she's perfectly fine." "I only worry if they run in school, she might get tired.." you should have seen the smug look on Ahena's face. In the car she asked "mummy, are you bringing me to school?" "yes, the doctor said you're well to attend school." "no, she didn't say that. You bluff me.." "yes, you have to attend school." (she shakes head). I thought then to let her skip school but first I still need that detour to mom's place to get her changed & pick up homework from school. Then went off to Aricia's class, wah................... very depressing; very miserable. Cannot go fast. I heeded hubby's advice to go slow but I thought I heard some sound. Okay, maybe no sound insulation and it makes a different sound from macho Mr Nissan so.. as long as I kept to 80/85kmh the car "won't skid" and the car doors won't drop out. (my imagination ran wild) My time execution was wrong... I should have left much earlier since I can't speed (110/115kmh - mom will freak out!), somehow I can't evade the ERP charges at Prince Edward by that 2 mins. Argh!
Why miserable? Coz' I used to travel on right lane and go "ne-ne-pu-pu" with those cars that have to go slow and get really pissed off with a slow car infront of me. This time round, I can't hog right lane and get pissed off when I get to see those 1.3cc cars revved up their engine and go faster. SHOW OFF! I want to step on accelerator but think about the doors that might drop out if I do that. No wonder hubby thinks its safer to get a smaller car...
Then I thought to myself, I'm always rushing about from places to places (kan cheong). Does it mean it's a hint for me to go slow?

Miserable - part 2
In the night, I was even more miserable and I cried coz' I was so fed up. Fed up with Athena. It's Maths every Fridays and .... drove me up the wall. I never have problems with her on Sundays or Tuesdays (English) or Thursdays (Chinese). But Maths hor... it's not the first time. Just a simple calculation can make me want to tear my hair. The equation is written in sentence form. Ultimately what you're suppose to do is to have 18 minus 12 = 6. Simple right? She can't think, tell me 17, 15 and etc... So I thought okay, I'll teach her to put the numbers below one another so she needs to minus 2 from 8. Still don't understand? I get answers 17, 15 and etc... I used the cuisenaire rods to help her. "Make 18 then take out 12. Tell me the answer." Guess what my girl did? She made 2 rods of 18 and another 12 and then threw back 12 in the box. ?!?! So the answer is 18. ?!?!?! Say fed up or not, lost all my patience. And what made me lose my head is the fact that when I tried explaining to her she wasn't looking at the book; playing with her pencil.
That's not all. At one point, I let her do her music homework unsupervised coz' it's mainly 'copying'. All she needs to do is to copy 2 bars of a 3 4 song. Guess what I saw after I finished Aricia's session? She copied the whole song into 2 bars. Erased off and asked her to re-do unsupervised. She copied the whole song into 2 bars again!!! Fuming mad! Copy also can copy wrongly.
KZ heard me explaining and nagged at her also shook her head. I couldn't take it! After all the efforts in taking my precious time to sit down with her and guiding her for her assessment books, this is all I get? I couldn't take it, I broke down in tears.

Mumblings

Been wanting to blog so much things but I don't know why lately I've been feeling so tired. My mind tends to auto shutdown at 12am, can't last through 1am. Shucks! And I've things to clear in my lappie etc....

Photos - I managed to finish up to Taiwan. I see all the brochures I lugged back from NZ to put in my albums also sian.. Yah, I tell you hor... when I holiday I don't do much shopping. Even if we do, it's mostly the kids and maybe hubby's. He has the mood to shop mah... I cannot shop, want to try clothes; kids make noise want me; I hear their voices; I tak boleh tahan. So why is our luggage always heavy? I like to bring back some brochures I take from each place, double (just in case I need pictures from the same piece of paper) & see if I need them in the album. Now I see the brochures, I get a headache and I've to separate them according to places we went. And placing them into the album is another story to tell.. I am so lazy now, instead of retyping the words. I cut what I've typed in my itinery and put it inside. Speaking about organizing albums, brother does it much better than me, he'll do more than what I do but lesser than a scrapbook format. Still! That will take alot of time (which I'm thankful that I'm not a diehard scrappie fan).

PTM - was last night. Peggy gave us an idea about the F.S.S the children have to take at the end of the year. Sounds easy but I dunno whether that girl can do it or not. She has problem with her hearing. Play one note, she can either get it right and sound very confident when giving answers or humtam botum from Do to Do. Argh!
Maybe some won't continue on coz' it'll be a non-parent sit-in kind. For me, I'm more worried if she'll interfere with the class & perhaps she might do better in an individual class. If not, I'll be happy for her to continue with the rests of her class before each goes their separate ways. (umm... I hate when it comes to this)
And again... she keeps mentioning that my expectation from her is too much. Very sian to keep explaining you know, afterall it's a group PTM not an individual PTM. She thinks and kept saying I'm too strict. Wah.......ay! I do praise my girl also you know?!
I know my daughter's faults, I don't deny them and I'm willing to share but for others to hear it - it can be very boring and like I said we're here for a teacher-parents meeting. Seems like my child is problematic. She mentioned something about autism and some parents want to deny it. I thought no, my girl is not autistic or has ADHD. She has CSSS - Cannot Sit Still Syndrome. I'm not denying any fact but even if my child has it, I'll be the first to bring them to specialists.
On a positive note, Athena loves to sing and dance. Which I thought I wouldn't mind her taking choir or Dance as CCA. By then I'll still be correcting her mistakes when she sings - heehee! mummy from school choir mah! Then there's handbells too... sadly they don't have violin, if they do I'd ask her to join. Funny! Hubby was saying "why join all these useless CCAs?"
Me : "Then join what???" (pause) Ah! I know, let her join Girl Guides. Ah-nia sure mati one..."

A day of relaxation
Wednesdays are days I look forward to. I love the company. I wonder what will happen next year. I want to continue our sessions and gossips with MH but ...... very sad life hor? Child grows older, mother also more restricted. But then mummies all need their circle of friends right?
Maybe next year I will get to know other mummies while waiting for my children to run to me at the school gate?
After our gossip session, we left and I had until 6.45pm to meet J (Eliz's mummy). Shopped a little, managed to get another top without burning much on my card. $60+ after discount. Cheap? As TM's basement was so tempted to buy Famous Amos cookies.......ooh...if only I can bake cookies as nice as that!

It was nice of J to ask for a dinner together prior to our PTM. I've known her since 2005 and we do talk but we don't talk alot .. I mean those kind of gossipy or fun talks to get to know her better. Usually just in time for lessons and then after that leave and there's no way to get her children on playdate with her coz she's working. Eliz, that sweet girl? That talented girl. Goash! She's the best in the class, just listen and she can play well. Sigh..........if only Athena has half of her talent I'll be happy. Oops! I got a lil' sidetrack.
Anyway, we had a nice chat over Grilled Fish Sambal in Swensens (the sambal don't taste that good as what I had tasted in another outlet) and there'll be more to come next year onwards while we wait for our children.

Miss Subaru
Miss Subaru is finally here. Parked side by side tonight, can see the stark difference in size. Moved over some things and then no space / no compartments for this and that. You know lah! my children sometimes need to watch DVD in the car. Can't hide it from view when storing it, no space for stroller. Argh! I knew its going to be a small car but I totally forgot about space for strollers. Even our cheapo stroller is too big so don't talk about our PegPerago. No space for strollers = I can't spend too long time outside with Aricia. Becoz it will mean I need to carry one huge bag of milk; diapers and my own bag and carry/sling her. And you think I will enjoy my shopping trips?
So... it means it's an :
1) indirect subtle way of hubby trying to tell me not to spend too much $ and better stay at home everyday
2) telling me to leave Aricia at home with KZ so that I can enjoy myself without a child screaming
It's also a 4-seater, which means not much space for extra passenger. If you wish to stash away the booster seat, still gotta land on someone's lap that kind of thing. So it means I can't be kind-hearted to offer to give friends a lift, if I need to. Aha! Got chance to use back Mr Nissan when hubby's not around. Reason " I gotta work the car engine mah....."
I thought the lady said the interior is beige? It's black?! I think the lady very blur or anyhow do sales. Said car ready for collection on Wednesday then say Thursday.
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Hubby say cannot speed = he thinks the wife is a mad mother who not only drives herself against the wall but against the speed. With 2 children in the car, he expects me to keep to less than 100km "otherwise will skid". Huh? Trying to scare me or what? Shucks! I drive quite fast now have to suddenly go slow - not used to it. Okay, I get the hint >> "Athena, hurry up. (we're late) the car cannot go too fast." Citing the car as a reason, I get to be the angel afterall!
But okay lah, it's small which I think I will get used to it. Don't get used to it, also must right??

Last unit
Received a phone call about a last unit in Ambrosia, whether we want it or not. Ai yah, blur hubby wrote down my number then I start receiving sms-es when I don't EVEN HAVE MONEY TO BUY ONE ROOM!!!

3 hours solo

Brought Aricia out alone with me, went for follow-up with the sinseh then brought her to Ngee Ann City to collect my bag and jeans from Guess. Umm.... a little well behaved today (surprisingly), although a few times she tried to walk out of Kinokuniya and I had to throw the book I'm browsing through in a basket before running past the sensor to her. Managed to get a Kanji Dictionary finally. Frankly speaking, I've never spent so long trying to find a word. Why do they have to make it so complicated?? Separating the count of strokes to the left side followed by the right side etc....

She is so funny, reciting the Japanese words as she walked around the bookstore. Made friends with aunties che-ches and security guard.

I left the place after that, no more damages done to my credit card.

Holiday photos

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Enjoy!

Colours everywhere

Made a colourful agar-agar for hubby, he loves agar agar.

Some Kitty extras for Athena