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!

*********************************************************************************
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.

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

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 Holiday schedule (for my future recollection how "free" we are during this holiday)

This is a record for me, in the future, when I want to look back how I survived the crunch year with both PSLE-er and O'Level-er 🥂🍻 Of course coz both girls have tuitions so that made it busier and crazier. See! We should have moved to M.Parade!!

28th May (Monday)

8am - 10am             : GCE O' Level Chinese 1 - Athena

11am - 12.30pm      : GCE O' Level Chinese 2 - Athena

9.30am - 1.30pm     : Composition Workshop - Aricia (@ M.Parade)

2.30pm - 4.30pm     : Math - Aricia (@ Punggol)

6pm                         : Piano - both (@ home)

* Lil' one begged me so many times to sign her up for the Composition Workshop. Didn't want to but she did her persuasive sales tactics. Sigh.... better be worth my time sending her back to M Parade* 

29th May (Tuesday) Vesak Day
9.30am - 1.30pm     : Composition Workshop - Aricia (@ M.Parade) 

30th May (Wednesday)
8am - 1pm               : School Supplementary Lessons (@ M.Parade) - Aricia
10.15am - 12.15pm : Chinese tuition - Athena (@ home)
7pm - 9pm               : Math - Athena (@ home)

31st May (Thursday)
8am - 1pm               : School Supplementary Lessons (@ M.Parade) - Aricia
8am - 12.30pm        : School Supplementary Lessons (@ M.Parade) - Athena
2pm - 4pm               : Science - Athena (@ Sengkang)
2.30pm - 4.30pm     : English - Aricia (@ home) [replacement for 3rd June]

1st June (Friday)
8am - 1pm                : School Supplementary Lessons (@ M.Parade) - Aricia
8am - 2.10pm           : School Supplementary Lessons (@ M.Parade) - Athena
5.15pm - 7.15pm      : Composition - Aricia (@ M.Parade)

9th June (Saturday)
9am - 11.30am           : Math - Aricia (@ Punggol)

2pm - 4pm                 : Science - Aricia (@ M.Parade)

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4th June (Monday)
1.30pm - 5pm           : Science Extra arranged by tuition centre - Aricia (@ M.Parade)
6pm                         : Piano - both (@ home)

5th June (Tuesday)
9am - 12.30pm         : Science extra arranged by tuition centre - Aricia (@ M.Parade)

6th June (Wednesday)
10am - 12pm             : Chinese - Athena (@ home)
7pm - 9pm                 : Math - Athena (@ home)

7th June (Thursday)
9am - 4pm                 : Chinese Workshop - Aricia (@ Biopolis)
2pm - 4pm                 : Science - Athena (@ Sengkang)

8th June (Friday)
9am - 11am                : Piano - both [make up for 18th June] (@ home)
5.15pm - 7.15pm        : Composition - Aricia (@ M.Parade)

9th June (Saturday)
9am - 11.30am           : Math - Aricia (@ Punggol)
2pm - 4pm                 : Science - Aricia (@ M.Parade)
________________________________________

11th June (Monday)
2pm - 4pm                 : Science - Athena (@ Sengkang)

12th June (Tuesday)


13th June (Wednesday)
7pm - 9pm                  : Math - Athena (@ home)

14th June (Thursday)


15th June (Friday)


16th June (Saturday)
2pm - 4pm                  : Science - Aricia(@ M.Parade) 

17th June (Sunday)
8.30am - 11.30am       : Chinese - Aricia (@ Home)
2pm - 4pm                  : English - Aricia (@ home) 
___________________________________________

19th June (Tuesday)     
8am - 1.10pm             :  School Supplementary Lessons (@ M.Parade) - Athena

20th June (Wednesday)

????? what happened thereafter. I re-looked at this super old blog post on 17th Nov 2025, 7 years later 😂😂. Che-che is already working and lil’ one has gone through another major exam in 2022 🤭. I really have no idea what else I was going to type. Oh well! I’ll just post this back to original date in 2018

           

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.* 

Such school life!!

Sitting in the carpark waiting for che-che.

I see primary kids leaving the school. They look big so could be P6s. I saw girls streaming into the school, either for CCA or classes, after the papers are over.

Such school life!!

Timeline

First day of school holiday

First GCE O’ Level Paper 📝 - Chinese

First time after 3+ years, this encouragement card goes on the table. She used to keep it in her drawer immediately in the morning, now she left it on the dining table and made her way out of the house. It’s 6.50am now; she needs to be in school by 7.20am. 

I was the one who sent her to school that time (P6) together with her friend who lives in Sengkang, making a stop at the temple opposite her house to pray every morning before every paper. Now daddy sends her to school, without making the trip to the temple coz will be making a roundabout trip. I might go abit later before sending lil’ one for her workshop at 9.30am in Marine Parade.

Her breakfast this morning with her usual vitamins & a card. Haha! A bit burnt the bread. I don't mean to ask her to "burn" her papers.

 

My home the National Geographic

My goodness! Ever since I’ve moved here, I’ve seen countless of insects. Weird ones too!

Let me start from the very beginning.

>  I had more roach intruders than in my previous home of 13yrs. Tho’ the last time I had one small one was months months ago.

> I scream “lizard!!” more than ever. Tho’ lizzie are friends but I hate the idea of having another family prying into my privacy. It’s a conflicting emotion when I see lizard. If I don’t see it, it could be feasting on whatever crawlies came into our house unspotted. If I see it, means there’s no buffet left and they’re looking for food outside or .... perhaps hinting to me “yo woman. I smell food in your house.” Whatever it is, I will try to get rid whenever I see one. As I’m speaking, there’s one lurking somewhere in che-che’s room or maybe caught between window and mosquito netting. Tried to get rid of it, but it went missing after I came back with my peppermint spray. Why is it so difficult to remove lizard? Why no spray to kill them?  

> I have housefly flying into my house when I’ve done heavy cooking and not yet cleaned the kitchen and air out the kitchen. (Rosemary oil to do the last cleanup after the scrubbings. And a fan positioned into the kitchen with sliding windows to dining area closed to blow out the stale air into the opened up yard area. It's so troublesome! That's why sometimes I really hate to cook.) 

> For the past months, I’ve been cursing at the big black ants 🐜 taking my house as their holiday chalet. 

> With plants outside the PES, needless to say the little creatures need food too. I’ve chopped off leaves with slight sight of aphids. I’ve killed countless of lime caterpillars in my I thought it was some chinese orange plant. Though last week lil’ one decided she wanted some pets. Haha! Got 6 of them. One is in chrysalis stage.
http://butterflycircle.blogspot.sg/2011/11/life-history-of-lime-butterfly-v20.html?m=1

> I’ve seen the weirdest disgusting things till I found out they were earwigs in the yard area. I found the best solution for intrusion  - covering the drain covers with sticky tapes - that reduced the number of crawlies I vacuumed up or killed.

> Late last week, saw and caught one big insect, which I found out later is the weaver ant queen. It was walking real slowly and reckoned injured coz otherwise it wouldn’t be so easy to catch it (not with my hands). The Queen! I got the Queen! And with the Queen, I bet there must be a nest somewhere with the plants outside my compound. When I caught it into a container, I managed to catch 2 other big black ants 🐜 that sneakily came in from the PES. There were 3 of them in the container and strangely they minded their own business which I thought that perhaps they’re not related. Coincidently, the next day someone posted in Urban Farmers FB page about this and that’s how I know it’s the Weaver ant queen. Best solution to get rid of ants is to get rid of the Queen 👑 . 

Oh great! What an adventure I’ve had so far without venturing through amazon-y 🌳. While I do not want to have chemical laden insecticide in my house, I guess I have no choice but to go down to the pest buster shop one day. I really need to get rid of the irritating black 🐜. 

Oh! Heard there were sightings of snakes and rats and monitor lizard in our compound before. Scary isn’t it? Worry snake come into the house ; worry snake gets into the sewage and gives us a nice surprise to our butt when we 💩 poo. 

The last time we ....

spent some time together without stress Okay, I’m joking on the “without stress” part coz Che-che’s Chinese O’levels Paper is on 28th May (9 days time) and lil’ one is ehh....quite behind her revision. I feel the urgency was in December. 

Our Saturdays routine is usually just me bringing lil’ one for her tuition back at Parkway at noon after her first tuition in the morning at Punggol. Che-Che follows me sometimes but if the man is in town, he’d be at home. After tuition ends at 4pm, we go back home with packed dinner. 

Today, the man decided to bring the girls for a movie after lil’ one’s tuition. It’s a welcome change that Parkway has a cinema after all these years!

We watched a movie together after so many many months later. Or maybe it was a year ago?

So, when will we ever go back to the carefree days of going out and relaxing with no worries about exams; school homeworks piling up at home? Sigh..... this is the thing that our children go through now. We used to be so carefree when we were of schooling age. 

#ourataseducationsystem# 

Difficult

It’s not easy planning a detailed intensive revision schedule for lil’ one for June holidays. Everytime I look at the calendar and the things she needs to cover for each subjects, I get so fused up and end up doing something else instead. Hmm....like for example —- THIS! I’m blogging instead.

You might think “it’s easy what, just plan. What’s so difficult?”

Yes, indeed it looked easy as I printed out the calendar and list down the things she needs to revise. That’s just the easiest part - REALLY!

A few factors to consider.

1) She needs to be back in school for supplementary classes (3x)

2) TLL - her science tuition centre organised additional (2x)

3) Student Leadership Camp - for the school leaders? (2x) haven't received anything from school yet

4) Her on-going tuitions

I tried not to have any holiday PSLE booster though I think many others are stepping up signing for courses for the last minute dash to PSLE. I'm doing the opposite, I used to like to sign them up for classes during the school hols but now every seconds; minutes is so precious to me. 

BUT my dear girl insisted to be signed up for Booster class for Chinese.  I'm like “chinese is your forte. What the heck you’re going for chinese? Go for other subjects lah!”

It’s like plan also must do right?  Cannot plan then cannot finish, keep pushing back. Which happens all the time!! So all the planned work to be covered have to be realistic. Is she able to cover 100 pages of work when she had already spent half the day in school? Not possible. 

真是的！我迫不期待 PSLE is over and done with.

If I had a million dollars .......

what will I buy?

LAVISH WANTS

A better telescope with equatorial mount

A 400mm f/2.8 lens

A DSLR camera upgrade

My long time wish of owning Stagea electone organ

Hermes bag

SELFISH ME COMES FIRST

A slimming programme

Botox treatment

DOMESTIC WANTS

The perhaps ridiculous but sounds real tempting Thermomix?

PRACTICAL ASSETS

A condo under my name for rental purposes 

Continue dreaming