And the kids have broken the soft closing function of not one but two toilet seats! Haha!
The original seat broke but we managed to get a free replacement in March as it was still under warranty. At that time, we weren't quite sure if it was the seat or the kids. But mid August, the replacement seat broke. So yup, it's the kids. We're not replacing the seats anymore. They can deal with lifting the seat up and putting it down gently. Just don't use my toilet, EVER!
The toilet seat is not the only thing to suffer from the kids. Their sofa seats are also depressed to varying degrees. Yu is the Papa Bear, Kai the Mama Bear and Yang the Baby Bear, i.e. Yu's seat is the most depressed, no thanks to him bouncing and standing on his sofa! In fact, it has a hole... We put a cushion over his seat and turn a blind eye to it.
The walls in the three kids' rooms have scratches and even holes, even though Yu has not moved into his room yet *.* Other walls have also suffered, like the part above the skirting near Kai's sofa - it's all yellowish coz Kai steps and rubs over it all the time... The study wall and even the sideboard door have scratch marks from the chairs coz these little butts are very itchy - must roll Papa's chair everywhere!
Kai knocked a bit of the laminate off a corner of his wardrobe. Yang's wardrobe is also suffering from his and Yu's weight when they push in clothes after folding them - no damages yet but it's a matter of time, right?
Why are they so rough?!
Other damages are kind of expected - food/drink splatters on painted walls, cracks in the plaster, mould on silicone in wet areas. But we had one unexpected damage in May - a strong wind slammed a window shut and the glass cracked!
I taped the glass in case it fell off and hurriedly got someone to replace it - that was $120 gone. My only consolation was that I didn't need to shift the washing machine at all as the guys took down that window and cut and replaced the glass at the corridor before installing it back.
Apart from these mishaps, we also face polluted air from incense burning. This being an elderly area has lots more burning compared to BP. Our immediate neighbour burns a joss stick at the corridor at least weekly - I haven't figured out her schedule :p And we have survived two lunar seventh months already - with much aircon and runny nose...
There is of course cigarette smoke but that was present in BP too and is a whole other story that I hope to write about another day...
And pests are also another story. I talked about lizards already. Outside, there are pigeons which make me feel like I'm in the horror movie "Birds" sometimes... The community cats here are too well fed and cared for - with beds! - that they don't bother swiping down birds. And the birds are also too well fed by silly old people who throw food from their kitchen window, to catch lizards! Grrr!
Recently, we also noticed some amazing lost laundry. A lot of families still hang out their laundry here and the wind can be pretty strong. But we didn't expect to see a bedsheet hanging neatly on a branch of a really tall tree in between the walls of two blocks. Walls ok, not the kitchen area where people put out their laundry. Some freak of a wind must have blown it high and far before depositing it so nicely on a branch.
It happened to be the lunar seventh month - the bedsheet looked freaky :p I took a photo and sent in to the One Service app. The town council dealt with it promptly. I don't know how - it was high up and right above some steps. But right after that, we found yet another bedsheet on another tree. This time, it was lower and nearer to people's laundry, and it was gone the next time we passed by. And then I saw another piece of something on the tree right below our kitchen windows *.*
All the above aside...! I must say we enjoy living here. It's convenient and close to the kids' school and various amenities.
*** silence ***
Oh, is that it? Haha! I guess there's always more to say about bad things!
These days, we eat more at hawker centres and coffeeshops coz they're available. We found that that really make a difference to our dining-out expenses! And yummier sometimes! The new mall that opened in December was also good for our fave Paradise restaurants - it's cheaper to eat at Classic than at the coffeeshop sometimes when Kai and Yu choose to eat steak from the western food stall...
And now that we're not staying right above a neighbourhood mall, we eat way less fast food, which is better for our waistline! We still make the trek to Macs often enough but more for breakfast or ice cream after dinner - and Sito and I don't eat as much at breakfast :p
At home, one of our fave spots is the dining room. On weekday mornings, Sito and I would sit there for breakfast, read news, chit chat. Before the kids come home, we also sit there for brunch/lunch/coffee and tea. This half of the year until about April, we have a nice bright morning without too much sun in our eyes. From about April, we have to pull down the blinds but we still get the view in the afternoon :) It's so nice that we saw someone pass by our corridor and take a step back to take a photo haha!
This was one rainy afternoon in December 2023
I'm thankful we haven't had to buy a single umbrella yet to cross from HV to our block! We bought quite a number from Cold Storage when Kai was a baby - always went out without a brolly and it rained on our way home *.*
Anyway, last weekend, we were queueing to cut hair at Clementi and bumped into the previous owner of our place. She moved to Clementi. I took the chance to ask her about ownership of this flat. So we are the fourth owner of my side and the third owner of the kitchen side. She bought over the kitchen side when the original owner wanted to sell. Mystery solved! Didn't see the lease this time coz HDB didn't give us a copy.
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