Horseh year!

The horse doesn't lend itself to many funny phrases unlike the snake year. I see mostly horseh - 好势 - so indeed, hope this will be a horseh year! To get us going, I pasted a horse sticker saying 马到功成 on Yang's room door in January - for his PSLE :p

Anyway, we had a rocky start this year - viruses!

Last year, Kai missed out on LNY celebrations in school as he was nursing a cough. This time, Yu woke up with a tummy ache on Monday. He couldn't even finish his milo. In the end, he stayed home and missed out on celebrations too. Yang wondered if it would be his turn next year...!

Yu's tummy ache came and went a few times. Else he was mostly fine and had no other symptoms. He couldn't eat much though, as late as Wednesday dinner, which was telling as it was Macs...

Sito didn't feel well since the week before. Sore throat and phlegm and coughing. By the time he felt better, it was my turn - I started with my usual drippy nose a few hours before going to Mother's place for dinner on Sunday, via YQ's place as we had never been there since he moved over two years ago!

Ill but still can eat!

Anyway, I think we're finally on the mend now...

Sito and I were guessing what Mother would cook - we both guessed fried prawns and we were right, haha! And that's not all, there were also fried wontons, woohoo! Kai had a few of the wontons while Yu preferred the prawns to the wontons. Yang - oops, forgot, probably coz he didn't want to try. But no fear, there was also salmon and braised eggs so I was sure Yang got his proteins. Adults also lapped up the curry chicken and braised vege. Everyone missed out on the meat in the soup though, expected since the soup pot was on a side counter.

There was a scary episode just after we started dinner - I stepped away to grab Kai's water bottle and came back in time to see a lizard darting away under my chair! So daring of it to come out of hiding when there were so many people! It went to the wall and ran to behind the curtain separating the kitchen from the living room. I tried not to think about it...

After dinner, Mother opened up the sewing machine to show the boys. Finally a working one after seeing so many during our Chinatown trip!

Yang and Yu took turns to step on the peddle

Kai was more interested in its $ value :p

YQ brought some mandarin oranges again so we shared a few. Yang really enjoyed them! He has expensive taste (up to $8 each?!) coz he isn't so enthusiastic about the usual oranges haha! 

We left pretty late - forgot about school the next day! But anyway it was just celebrations. 

Sito and I decided to whip up a good reunion dinner at home on Monday so we were busy in the morning even though Yu was home. But when Yu decided to stay home, I told him that we would be busy so he just read and played on his own :)

I prepared ingredients for four dishes before handing over the kitchen to Sito to prepare his second dish - roast pork. He had already dumped his char siew in marinade on Sunday. But I didn't manage to wash the toilets before Kai and Yang came home so my work extended beyond lunch time. Barely rested and had to start preparing dinner!

We started from about 2.30 pm. So much work... But it was all yummy!

六六大顺！

So we had roast pork and char siew, thanks to Sito. It was originally 五福临门 then Sito added char siew :p But the char siew was very good! Better - and easier - than the roast pork! The pot was 盆菜，with wonbok, carrots, taukwa and glass noodles buried under scallops, prawn paste, fish and mushrooms. The soup was good but the taste didn't extend to the toppings.

The lion's head meatballs were amazing though I now have a big pot of leftover filtered oil waiting to be used up. The steamed chicken/sausage is my usual steamed claypot rice recipe, minus the rice, just to add some 腊肉 to the LNY mix. The pork dumplings were the only dish we finished, as they were less easy to keep. So ya, 年年有余！

All of us thought the food was good, except Kai. Sighs, so difficult to please his palate..

This time last year, Kai was still shorter than me. And Yang was thin. So we couldn't all fit into our bed anymore, sighs.. We started out in the living to snack and watch TV together. This year, for the first time in years, we did not snack much - Sito was still coughing and I started to develop a sore throat :( Kai snacked the most as he finished 15 Rocher chocolates! We have six big boxes and three small boxes this year, very scary....

After the movie on Channel 5 ended, Sito and I retreated to our room to watch our TV, leaving the kids to their Sonic the Hedgehog marathon until almost midnight! The kids wanted to stay up more but nope, parents wanted to sleep haha! But since it was almost midnight, Sito and I stayed up a little bit more to watch the countdown on TV.

Tuesday morning came suddenly. Yang and I were the first to wake - I saw him pop his head into our room. So I went to his room to hug him for a while. But I really had to get the day going. Yu was the last to wake at almost nine and only coz I went to his room. Kai went, "Aren't we supposed to leave at 9am?" Hoho!

We left after 10 am! Coz after breakfast, we needed to take photos and give the kids their first hongbao of the year :)

All decked out :)

Yu was just asking me a few days ago for more recent photos on our photo wall. Indeed, the most recent photo there was from 2023 so we're already short of three LNY shots! Should get down to it one day...

Oh, Yang broke our selfie stick tripod stand while I was trying to stand the thing on his sofa seat *.* 岁岁平安！Quite sad though coz I just spent ¥20 in Beijing to keep it in a locker outside Universal Studios :(

Forgot to go through the greetings with them but ok la, they remembered a few simple ones that they kept repeating through the day.

It was raining so we left with four umbrellas and even took bus from AMK interchange to Mother's place instead of walking. The snacks were out - and Kai attacked the Rocher again! 

We got to AhYee's place quite late but lunch started late this year too so just nice! AhYee made 盆菜 too and hers was better than mine haha! But this meant there wasn't much protein for the kids, especially Kai. Yu had the most - a large piece of roast pork, a fuzhou fishball, bah kwa and vege on rice. Yang had the same but no roast pork. Kai had only bah kwa and vege on rice. Nvm, would compensate at dinner!

Lohei!

Some had left by then but oh well, not enough space! Good to see JieJie over LNY as she's usually on holiday. Also caught up with other relatives here and there. I even got to carry our baby niece who's now almost 1.5yo! So soft, so cute :)

Got home quite late this year. Only managed to dish out dinner at 6 pm. Just added some glass noodles to the pot, and heated up the other leftovers. Finally broke out the pineapple tarts while watching Frozen II on TV!

On Wednesday, day two, things became normal, i.e. like a weekend, with the kids having work time. I spent the morning baking hotdog buns, burger buns and muffins for the coming school days. 

Happy with their loot!

All the hongbaos from day one. Also passed them hongbaos from AhMa who brought them over on Saturday before leaving for their cruise on Sunday.

Dinner was Macs!

Yes, we succumbed to the lohei treasure box of nuggets, wings and twisty fries! Yu had been mentioning this every time we passed by a poster. And Sito saw that there was a discount so ok, quite worth it. 

But we didn't eat properly at the dining table as the kids wanted to watch Wonder on TV - it's the film adaptation of Kai's sec 1 literature book of the same title. That carried on to Turning Red, quite a funny show that we enjoyed even though the kids frowned at first at the girl protagonist.

With that, it was the end of the LNY holidays. School started on Thursday and things went back to normal routine, albeit with a bit of a shit show in Yang's 听写 which we totally forgot! But 拜年 didn't stop there. On Sunday, we went to AhMa's place with mandarin oranges.

And lohei again!

Nowadays, we have to say lohei instead of 捞鱼生 coz no 鱼生 inside at all! At AhYee's place, it was all fruits; here, fruits were buried under the standard seasoning and topped with abalone.

And I must say that JieJie is very 厉害 - in order to prevent Mum from massive cooking, she first booked them on a cruise over LNY, and then booked dinner outside when we visited 👍 

We went to Man Ting Fang - second time and the kids ate a lot again! Yu kept getting sweet and sour pork and tomato omelette sans tomato for himself. Yang had his big bowl of rice plus YeePo's half bowl *.*  Kai was the only one who had the duck. 

And I suppose that ended our visiting and feasting this year... Coming up will be 元宵节 when we usually had hotpot but this year, we had something interesting to do - akan datang - so hotpot will be separate...

On a side note, one unrelated person kept getting mentioned last week...

This year, we watched a lot of TV, as in free-to-air channels, over the holiday season. On Monday, it was The Tiger's Apprentice, very apt with zodiac animals and stuff. Kai commented on the accent of the villain, which wasn't very angmoh. So we found that it was Michelle Yeoh.

Later in Frozen II, when he heard the matronly voice of Yelena whose accent was harder to place, he asked if it was Michelle Yeoh 🤷🏻‍♀️ Next in Turning Red, he heard yet another matronly voice in the Grandma and asked if it was Michelle Yeoh again! No, both weren't! 

But best, on Thursday, when somehow the kiddy movies continued, Kai and Yu were watching Paws of Fury - Legend of Hank, and Kai heard a third matronly voice, "Wait a minute... Is that Michelle Yeoh?!" Now this really was Michelle Yeoh! 

We found it really funny somehow! Tried to convince Kai to choose a Michelle Yeoh movie on our movie night on Friday so that they could hear AND see her :p But nope, he wasn't keen..

Every boy a wonder :)

We're so pleased to learn that Yang made the school team for track and field :)

Yang, however, was less pleased. He said he had seen the school team train and it was challenging! He regretted doing well in the selection test last year... So we agreed that he should go for the training first and see how from there instead of rejecting it from the outset.

Since 13 January when we told him after seeing the notice on PG, he would say on and off that he didn't want to be on the school team. We got him running shoes anyway before our Chinatown trip. Then CCA started on Monday, 9 February. He came back from Evans Stadium very tired...

Then after his second training session on Wednesday that same week, he came back with a slip of paper informing parents of an upcoming track and field meet in March, before the National School Games later in term 2/3. He kept whining about not wanting to go for it. He doesn't want to go for any competitions. But he could not tell me what exactly he was afraid of.

Actually, I find that Yang is just like me at this age so I could completely understand. I was very self conscious and I didn't want to be seen by anyone coz I thought I was ugly 🤷🏻‍♀️ So I told Yang that there would be many things happening at the same time so attention wouldn't be on him alone. In fact, only people who love him would look at him and cheer him on. But of course he didn't buy it. 

Last time, we supported him when he wanted to learn piano. We also didn't force him to continue when he lost interest. But this time, we wanted to push him more since it's part of his CCA anyway

Then Sito talked to him at length about it. He went to fetch him from Evans on that first day of CCA to familiarise him with the route to the bus stop so he could come home directly instead of going back to school with the rest. And he saw that Yang was the biggest boy there in terms of height and build. His size is already a natural advantage. Even the coach said Yang was suitable for throwing events. 

In the end, it looked like Sito managed to convince Yang. When I tucked him in, he said Papa's "inspirational speech" made him feel better about going for the competition. Phew! So Sito signed him up for shot put.

On the other hand, Yu was envious and couldn't understand Yang; he wanted to be in the school team for robotics! In week 1 of school, he even coded a game for Kai who was lazy to do it! (In the end, Kai also did it himself.) But we didn't get any notification for Yu. 

After the first day of CCA, he confirmed he isn't in the school team. He said he didn't do well in the test last year - he scored full marks for the coding but didn't build the thing in time, or something like that. We told him to ask the coach what he should do to get into the school team but he went, nah, he would do better for the next test..

Even though chess is not a CCA in his school, Kai is effectively in the school team for chess since he represents the school when he plays at national schools games. 

So both Yang and Kai would be taking part in competitions in their respective fields in March. Jia you! 💪💪💪

Horses everywhere

For our annual pilgrimage to Chinatown for festive snacks in the past few years, we always picked a weekday afternoon - whisked the kids off after they came back from school and dropped their bags. But this year, there isn't a day when all three come home at the same time. I don't wish to stagger meal and shower times etc so in the end, we went on a Saturday this year.

With more time to work with, we worked in two on-the-way excursions.

Had our lunch early and set off about noon for Decathlon at Centrepoint to get running shoes for Yang - more on that next time.. I thought we would just randomly picked a size for him to try but wait! There's a foot scanner!

His feet are a couple of mm shorter than mine but he was recommended size 41 while I was recommended 39, probably coz his feet are much meatier. I didn't try shoes but 41 didn't work for him. In the end, he found 43 just nice. Kai didn't try shoes but I think he's would be 46 or so, bigger than the recommended 43 since his feet are meaty too. Sito also bought running shoes - size 43, he'll be dwarfed by all his sons soon!

Then we ran for the bus to Chinatown with a bag of shoes dangling from Sito's arm! We were at a bus stop waiting for a bus but that bus would take 15min to arrive while another bus to Chinatown was arriving at the next stop just a short walk away so we ran! And with this little exercise, we also made the 45-min connection and saved some money, yay!

The boys were getting hungry so we made a stop at good old Old Chang Kee before the second excursion - Chinatown Heritage Centre.

Annual shot outside Chinatown Point

This cartoon horse looks like a pig at first glance... There are many like-real horses along the road outside but oops, forgot to take photos.

Anyway... I remember going to the CHC many years back and found it interesting. But it was closed for some time. When I saw that it was open when I passed by it with Na during our - also annual - trip in late January, I thought it would be fun to bring the kids there.

Best part? Can use cultural pass so no money out of pocket! I used up my cultural pass for my date with Kai but Sito hadn't used his yet. As we weren't sure what time we would reach there, we didn't buy the timed tickets online. It was quite fast to buy on the spot anyway.

The CHC is not a big museum. But it has a lot to see. I figure we spent just over an hour exploring it and a good 20min playing with AI at the end.. Could have taken more time to explore if we scanned every single QR code for more info but you know, the kids aren't the type to stay still for long...

Papa explaining how a mechanical sewing machine works

The first floor is a tailor shop out front with a working area and a yard/kitchen behind. Yang really liked the sewing machines! Told him to ask WaiPo to demo when we next go there since she has a working one.

Playing with what I think is a tracing wheel

This shop brought back memories coz Mother sews quite a bit. When we were kids, she made dresses and quilted blankets for us. Now, I don't know what she sews apart from five stones! But the machine is still there.

She also has at least one of those wooden rulers and tracing wheel - I just called her to confirm! I remember the tracing wheel is quite fun - put tracing paper on cloth and roll over. Oh there's also this flat blue chalk for marking. Anyway, this Sunday, we'll go over to explore and hopefully not destroy things...

Old phones are always fun - we saw this at the National Museum before

Yang fiddling with an old iron

Goodness, a sarong cradle! Yu is pointing to a bamboo baby chair

Lots of altars in the shophouse

This is probably not a room for one or two...

I think my paternal grandmother had a big bed with drapes like the above. It was when she was living in a clan association house as a housekeeper. It must be before primary school coz it's hazy but I remember the whole family sleeping there and a big cockroach on the floor *.*

Anyway, the above was a big room in the shophouse. The rooms on the second floor were smaller and housed as many as 10 pax each! Appalling conditions, as I reminded Yang and Yu that night when they were in the comfort of their bed in a bedroom for one that is bigger than a room for a family of 10..

Heh heh!

Sito drew their attention to the pail to collect excretion in the toilet. I think the old clan association house also had such toilets. I really didn't like to go to the toilets there...

He found a palm leaf fan!

The boys flipped every single light switch in the shophouse!

Sito tried too *.* One boy - forgot which - asked if they were old light switches. Yes, light switches used to be like that. My house used to have them, I think. Or maybe it was at the grands'. I can't remember.

Btw, these switches are all decor. Very safe. I think they spent a lot of time on the details, even what people would like to touch and try!

Rat. Also a detail and common back in the day

Yu's face is so funny! He very gamely posed for his trigger happy Mama so there're many photos of him while the rest ran about.

The third floor of the shophouse is more like a museum, telling the stories of people moving to Singapore, their lives and contributions, and old names in Chinatown.

Cher, are you teaching Chemistry - in Chinese?!

Two scales - one real, one fake

There's at least one of such a set of scales (the real one) in Grams' old provision shop, next to the dried goods and biscuits, easy to weigh in front of customers.

What a date would be like in the old days - watch opera together!

While the kids had fun at a cinema on wheels!

There's a girl in front of Kai. I blocked most of her from this angle but her shoulder is still visible. Writing this down so this doesn't feel scary years down the road :p

Told him to pretend to flip bah kwa but he preferred to flip the mesh

The boys found two AI machines at the end which captures our options using finger gestures, and we had such fun seeing ourselves transported 50y back. 

Kai the trishaw rider - so handsome!

Yang - is this a naughty or creepy smile? Haha!

Also Yang the street hawker - the forehead proportion a bit off...

Looks like some evil concubine plotting against fellow concubines :p

Yu - looks like an innocent concubine happy with her life, haha!

Yu again - somehow the system cannot capture his finger gestures well

This is, um, no system error!

My laogong very funny :p I'm less funny..

Just want to be 花旦！

Yep, so we had a lot of fun in CHC! But it didn't seem to be a popular spot; we saw only one other family who came in right after us. Such a pity. Maybe the cost turns people off? After all, it's free to visit the National Museum for Singaporeans. 

And I think it's very educational for the kids. Secondary school history covers some historical figures related to the Chinese community but nothing beats seeing for your own eyes how people used to live. Such a replica is as close as we get, I suppose. 

But of course our kids didn't look at everything in detail and were fooling around a lot. At first I thought they might not remember much but all managed to say something when Sito asked them to tell the grands the next day 👍

Got the kids some snacks - mantou biscuits and binoculars chocolate - at the ticketing area before we left. It was drizzling so we decided to have dessert at Mei Heong Yuen on the parallel street. By the time we needed to get out of the shelter, the drizzle was gone, yeah!

This year, we had the kids share one ice dessert as they couldn't finish two last year. Sito was hungry and had chee cheong fun while I had orh nee - my second in a week! First was at Curry Times on Tuesday. Similar except that this one also had sweet potato cubes.

Finally, it was time for shopping! We reached the jelly store first. This year, it's $2 per 100g. We saw $1.80 per 100g in Clementi but didn't get then =( It sounds cheap but I still remember spending over $30 the first time I bought them over 10y ago! Got the boys to choose three flavours each. By the time we were done with choosing and weighing (1kg) and paying, Yang had seven jellies from the sampling counter!

Next was the main event - traditional LNY snacks! Bought $45 worth of pineapple tarts and friends, less than last year coz (1) we already bought one can from Sheng Siong and a kuah lapis from Ikea, (2) it's iffy if the kids will eat much (Yu insisted on love letters again so we got a small bottle this year as the big one went soft after he stopped eating), and (3) I'm getting fat, must control. Lucky coz the next day, AhYee gave us a can of love letters too.

With that, it was time for dinner. Saizeriya made the kids happy with the free flow drinks bar. But I reserved my belly for Chinese pancakes :) Went to a different store this time to try different things. I ate some when we got home and heated the rest up to eat after showering. So good.

Unfortunately, Sito fell ill along the way. Late nights, haze, kiddy virus or all of the above. The kids were also tired since we were out for way longer than usual. So that night, everyone slept early.

It's now one week to LNY, woohoo!

Mysterious thing, time

I learnt a few things about ancient time when I read a web novel last month. The novel was《知否知否应是绿肥红瘦》, set in a fictional state, based loosely on Ming/Qing dynasty customs. We watched the drama based on this novel some years back and I finally got down to reading the novel - happy!

Anyway, this is the first novel that made me open another tab just to understand when the characters were doing things! 

1) How people told time before watches

They used a contraption called 漏壶。Imagine a pot filled with water but there's a hole through which water leaks out. There's a scale on the inside of the pot to tell time as water leaks. Or another version where water drips into a pot with a scale inside. So water level goes either down or up with time. 

Apparently, one scale was based on 100 units or 刻 per day, maybe coz it's carved (刻) into the pot surface? Anyway, that means one 刻 = 24h / 100 = 14.4 min. Or approx 15min which is what we understand by 一刻 today, woohoo! 

I still remember a comprehension question in secondary school asking what was meant by a time with some 刻 in it. *Clear throat, straighten up* Ahem, I got it right, ok... Maybe coz in period dramas, they always behead people at 午时三刻 and I had never heard of 四刻、五刻?!

There is so much to read on this topic, like how they compensated for wind and evaporation and winter etc, but I haven't got to how the ancients decide how fast the flow of water should be to tell time accurately. Maybe no one was, or could be, punctual back then...?!

I highly appreciate my MiBand, which allows me to tell time to the minute, day and night, regardless of season and lighting available!

2) Name of the hours

Actually, name of the double-hours coz they went by 时辰. Since long, long time ago, maybe I was a kid then, I realised that one 时辰 refers to two hours. I used to wonder why the unit of time is so wide. 

12 time periods:

• 子时 = 11pm to 1am
• 丑时 = 1am to 3am
• 寅 yín 时 = 3am to 5am
• 卯时 = 5am to 7am
• 辰时 = 7am to 9am
• 巳时 = 9am to 11am 
• 午时 11am to 1pm 
• 未时 = 1pm to 3pm 
• 申时 3pm to 5pm 
• 酉 yǒu 时 5pm to 7pm
• 戌 xū 时 = 7pm to 9pm - this is when 打更人 starts telling night time hours (1-5更) for the public
• 亥 hài 时 = 9pm to 11pm 

Digression: Not bad, I could read eight of the 12 :p

Some years back, I came across a reel explaining the duration meant by 一盏茶 (15min) and 一炷香 (30min). But it still doesn't tell me how ancient Chinese said things like 10.15 am. Yes, I mentioned 午时三刻 above but 午时 refers to 11am to 1pm. So does 午时三刻 mean 11.45am or 12.45pm? Are we having an early lunch or normal lunch?!

Firstly, 午时 on its own or 午时初 refers to 11am while 午时正 refers to 12nn. Next, based on #1 above, one 刻 is about 15min. So 10.15am should be 巳正一刻 while 9.15am is simply 巳时一刻。

Hence 午时三刻 means 11.45am. Why behead at this time? Coz that time is so 阳 that the horrible criminal cannot even become a ghost, haha!

For someone (like me) who tells time to the minute, this system will drive me mad! But then again, if I had lived in ancient China, I wouldn't know one minute from the next until I hit a 刻！

Actually there is a lot of info on this, like how the 12 names reflect nature. You may have noticed already that they are also the 12地支 often used with the 12 zodiac signs. These aren't the only names but are the most widely used - that's what I gathered from my research...

3) Ancient Chinese woke really early!

Now this is really interesting. I knew government officials had to 点卯 or clock in for work. Since there's 卯时，it's natural - and correct - to assume they clock in at 5am. Or that's the usual time for most people.

Since not everyone stayed right outside their workplace, they had to wake way earlier to wash up and travel - by foot, sedan or carriage. This means that the servants of the bigger officials had to wake way earlier to dress themselves and prepare hot water etc for their bosses.

Lucky thing is that with no electricity or internet, everyone could end their day early. 

*** *** ***

Ok, end of learning. Now, time for talking.

I was just telling C the other day that I find it difficult to get up before daybreak; she was asking me to go walk walk at the Botanic Gardens at 6 am. Indeed, over seven years after first kid entered primary school, I still find it hard to wake up when it's still dark outside. In the same vein, I get drowsy when the sun sets, unless I'm in a brightly lit office tricking my senses into continuing to work *roll eyes*

Have you seen students having breakfast in bright daylight in Channel 8 dramas? Fake. Even for me who could step out of my block right onto an overhead bridge that led right into my primary school, breakfast was at most lit with faint first light. 

And why? Coz Singapore time is off by an hour. Geographically, we should be GMT +7. So when my clock says 7am, it should really be 6.00am. No wonder it's dark!

But ok, time, as in the number, is quite arbitrary. Who is to say we should wake at what time? But it seems reasonable to say we should wake with the sun?? Then what should change should be school and work hours. Let (most of) us wake with the sun!!!

Anyway, Singapore has had a number of changes of time zones. Check out this archived write-up - very cool reading. I was born in GMT +7.5. The current GMT +8 happened from 1982. Check out this archived news article about the switch at 11.30pm on 31 Dec 1981. 

Then I wondered about all our 八字 calculations - would the timing be off? The 时辰 is based on the position of the sun at place of birth, not the man-decided time zones. 

Only Yu's 时辰 changed after accounting for the one hour. But the time is not as important as the day, says the hub aka our in-house fengshui master. Ok, then let's not make my wee brain think too much about it.. Going bonkers thinking about adding/subtracting the 30min/1h...!

Three different awards for our three boys

I didn't realise back in December but at the awards ceremony on Saturday, I realised that the boys did a clean sweep of the three Edusave academic awards. 

I wonder if I would ever see all three getting awards together again... I already told Yang that it would be challenging to get the good progress award again next year so if he wanted an award, he had to be in at least top 25%.

So this photo is very precious!

My boys look so smart in uniform!

We were in session 11 of 17, hoho! Our MP's speech this year sounded more serious.. Maybe coz he's in Mindef now, vs. MOE last year... 

And so we had a Mindef booth this year, and the boys had fun!

Looking smart too, haha! It's not clear from the photos but Yang had a backpack on as well. Yu found the vest rather heavy for him. Btw, the white thing sticking out of the helmet/hat is a hairnet, for hygiene reasons as many people wore those headgear.

Decorating pens with fancy beads

I asked them if they would decorate pens for me. Nope, they were doing it for themselves *.* I didn't ask them to make more for me coz they really took their time doing it... Families from the next session were coming out before we were able to leave...

There were also free books and Yang chose a chemistry book! Sito and I got supermarket vouchers from the IMDA booth by doing surveys - uncle and auntie haha!

This year, besides the bag for the certs, I threw a foldable shopping bag into my purse based on our past experience, and indeed it came in useful to carry souvenirs and various snacks. Yang and Yu as expected chose fluffy SAF bears bigger than my hand while Kai chose a blind box containing a bear smaller than my hand. 

Must end the day with Macs

They were telling me about the nuggets lohei a few days before that. They saw the ad on TV. But we decided it wasn't worth it. And I had free nuggets coz it's my birthday month!

Anyway, just got alerts from bank today about their Edusave money coming in; their accounts are tied to mine for now. They'll be happy to know :)

Four years on...

I was in bed this morning when I realised that I had stopped work for four years already. Somehow it didn't feel that long. Maybe moving house broke it up for me.

This morning, I met CH for breakfast. Years back, before Kai entered primary school, she stared at me when she learnt that I sent the boys to child care on Saturdays so that I could squeeze more work in. Thanks to her, and another friend who also berated me for doing so, I reflected and stopped sending them to child care on Saturdays.

That was the first step towards where I am now.

CH took years off work to take care of her family too, and returned to the workforce when her kids were grown. So she understands and encourages me all the time. She's turning 63 and on NPL, but fully occupied doing voluntary work in the ageing sphere. Using words from Yang's textbook, CH 是值得我学习的好榜样！

But unlike her, I doubt I would return to the workforce later... I really enjoy my life now. 

On school days, I spend the morning cleaning etc, preparing meals, writing, going out with Sito and meeting friends. When the kids come home, I get them fed and coach them in their studies. Then it's relaxing time with them before their bedtime and my drama series with Sito :p If there's no school, I do less cleaning and cooking, but still have time for myself when they're playing or doing revision.

And I'm not bored. Cleaning is a chore but there's satisfaction in sitting down on a sparkling clean toilet for instance! I like to feed my family. Coaching the kids take a toil on my lifespan, especially when it comes to Chinese, but it's meaningful. I realise I also improve my English and Chinese along the way coz need to know more to teach!

When they're grown? Read more, go on more dates with Sito, meet more friends. I don't need work to occupy my mind. If I really have nothing to read and nowhere to go, I can always follow CH's footsteps and volunteer somewhere.

But wow, four years as a stay-home mum and homemaker. I'm happier than ever. Ageing for sure, but I applaud myself that I'm not a total 黄脸婆！:)

Moving moving! - Part II

I just realised that I didn't publish this back in May 2025 after writing Part I in April!! Argh, here goes...

Part II is on what happens in the new house, i.e. cleaning and unpacking.

Cleaning

I don't remember cleaning our first matrimonial home before moving in, despite moving in twice. First time, maybe I wasn't so OCD yet? Second time, I was heavily pregnant and my in-laws who lived there while we were in Evanston kept it clean.

For BP in 2018, it was minimal renovation since the new apartment came with lots of fittings already and the ID cleaned up very well. I might have assigned our helper to clean while I was working. For our current place, though, it was a nightmare.

First, we had a short timeline between handover and moving in. And while cleaning, we discovered things that needed rectifications so we had to repeat cleaning of some areas :(

Below in recommended order to prevent accumulation of more dust on already cleaned areas:

Windows

• Plenty of reno dust, especially between the windows and the grilles. Prepare a vacuum or blower. We found that our mini blower is stronger than our mini vacuum for stuck debris.
• For wet cleaning of the glass, prepare a squeegee, a spray bottle and plenty of rags for mopping up at the bottom following the squeegee - I always have rags, i.e. cut-ups of old clothes, for cleaning.
• Sliding windows trap more dirt than casement windows as some parts are just not accessible! For those facing outside the building, be careful when leaning out to clean the outside part of the glass! Actually, unless there's bird poo, no need to clean la :p
• Don't forget the windows in the toilets! Ours are louvre. Over time, heat from showers and dust combine to form a gross coating on the glass facing upwards... This needs a dry wipe before a wet mop.

Aircon units

• There may be dust on the units if they're not properly sealed.
• Give it a wipe for peace of mind. Would not be nice if it blows out visible dust when you first use it!
• If the installer did some testing, the aircon may feel damp. Turn on the fan and let it dry out.

Walls

• Yes, walls. Reno dust goes everywhere. Walls are not exempt from dust.
• Use Magiclean dry wipes - long enough to reach the top of walls in most HDB flats. I use those bright yellow refill packs from Japan Home - more economical.
• Freshly painted ceilings are usually fine but can still become dusty over time. Magiclean still the best bet

Carpentry, i.e. cabinets and wardrobes

• Leave the doors open to air the inside as much as possible before cleaning or the glue fumes will sting your eyes!
• The insides may look clean but they are not! My white dry wipe turned brown 🤮
• Given the size of wardrobes, it's more efficient to use Magiclean dry wipes, yes, with the paddle, macam sweeping. I then sprayed the wet wipes with some antibacterial general cleaning solution from Walch, no rinse required.
• For smaller shelves and drawers, I did the same but without the paddle.
• If you are paranoid like me, wet wipe with some anti-mould solution. I did this in between dry and wet wipes, and let it dry up first.
• Drawers can be removed to clean the hollow inside - there's usually a catch under or at the sides of the drawers.
• Don't forget the doors and ABS strips.
• Remember to air the cabinet again to make sure insides are all dry.

Besides built-in staff, we also have a lot of loose furniture. For those that we self-assembled, we cleaned the parts before assembling and then did a simple wipe-down.

Doors

• Like walls, doors are dusty too. Clean like walls.
• Wipe down the handles which are often touched.

Countertops etc

• Probably only the kitchen countertop is built in in most homes.
• Cleaned this multiple times as we kept putting random stuff on it during the cleaning and moving stages. Eventually for food use - and I roll dough on it - so I cleaned like mad using antibacterial wipes.
• Don't forget the backsplash and under the cabinets above the kitchen counter.

Floors

• Dry wipe then wet wipe.
• I even did two rounds of steam cleaning. I knew some parts would eventually be covered by furniture forever and ever so just cleaned max first.

Wet areas

• Now that the floors are clean, put out a floor mat outside the wet areas and get going :)
• Dry wipe walls and pipes etc to get rid of dust, then just spray water everywhere to clean!
• For the toilets, remember that reno staff would have used them. I sanitised them madly coz OCD.
• Leave the doors open to air dry completely.

Hinges

• This is more maintenance than cleaning.
• When everything is nice and clean, oil door and window hinges to prevent rust. Same can be done for cabinets and wardrobes.
• All you need is baby oil in a cup and an old paintbrush; I have many from the kid's painting days. Tissue is less efficient.

Unpacking

This should take place only after cleaning is all done. 

For us, unpacking is a worse nightmare than packing. While we had the luxury of time to pack over days, we must unpack quickly in order to settle in and get rid of all those boxes.

It's not just a matter of moving things from boxes to cabinets. Nope. Coz I must wipe or wash everything before storing them. Except clothes - see Part I.

Wet wiping is fast enough as they can be dried quickly with a dry cloth. Washing the kitchen stuff took some time as I let them dry naturally...

Cleaning aside, the most important thing is to decide what goes where, i.e. organisation. Lucky we settled that during the renovation planning stage. We still had surprises, like we forgot about space for big suitcases! Eventually found them a home in a non-wardrobe tall cabinet in my room by removing the lowest shelf. We also had more toys than space for toys so some went into the kids' wardrobes.

My goal was to clear the moving boxes so some things were left in a temporary home like kitchen countertops - coz I didn't cook during those early days - as loose furniture didn't all come in before the move. When our new dining table arrive, our old one became a nice storage space for random stuff for a while...

But unpacking the boxes is the last major step. The detailed organisation can be tweaked slowly. Even today, I still move things about here and there...

So that's it. I hope not to move in the next 20 years at least!

I'm 46! Or 47?

I was rather confused on Saturday morning. I was washing my face when I thought how odd it was that I was 47yo in a PSLE year. I mean, our whole family was born in even years. PSLE takes place in the year we turn 12. I should be of even age in PSLE years!

Then I realised I got the year wrong. It's 2026, not 2027!

Or maybe I was thinking about starting my 47th year right just a couple of days before that..

Or signs of dementia?

Anyway, I'm 46. And this is my 47th year.

On my birthday on Thursday, Sito brought me to Pancakes and Friends at Far East Plaza for souffle pancakes. It was a cosy little place with minimal staff so our intended brunch became an early lunch! But the food was good - we shared a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel, and a Hokkaido milk gelato pancakes with muesli. The pancakes were so wobbly! Calories were so worth it...

Half a bagel each for my Laogong and me

Sito already bought a cake on Wednesday while I was lunching with Jo at her place. He just told me this morning that he had wanted to buy me a laptop - the one I'm now typing on is refusing to charge! But he could not surprise me coz I need to choose the colour, plus it's better that I buy with my Shopee account as I'm a Shopee VIP :p

But I do have a present of sorts... We bought a new fridge in December and it arrived almost a month later on Wednesday. We spent the afternoon cleaning it inside out. On Thursday morning, I shifted things from our old fridge to the new fridge. On Friday, I cleaned and reorganised the old fridge. SOOOOOO happy, ok... That's it. It's my birthday present, 70% paid by Ah Gong's climate vouchers :p

Anyway, after the pancakes, we headed to Bibi and Baba to get uniforms for Yang and Yu. Yang's pants were bursting at the seams - he has grown so much in the past year! His waist measures 75cm vs. Kai's 66cm 小蛮腰 ok, don't play play... Actually we bought him one larger pair in May last year but he refused to wear it as it had a button instead of a hook clasp at the top of the zip. But now he has no choice!

Their corporate tees are also rather fitting now. They look like bah zang especially the belly part. Again, Yang is going one size bigger than Kai at this age. Yu has always maintained the same shape - round - so it's kind of expected... His waist measures 65cm now. I shall see if he can wear Yang's clothes in a couple of years' time...

After a protein top-up from Old Chang Kee and a short rest with milk tea at MOS at Ion, we made our way to school. While Yu's start-of-year PTM on Tuesday was online, Yang's was F2F. Maybe coz he's P6. Kai's PTM end of the month would be F2F too - preparing for Sec 2 streaming...

Once we got to school, I went to queue at the bookshop. We already bought most of their textbooks from Popular in December but some were only available in schools. While I settled the books, Sito went to find the kids. Kai had texted us earlier to say he was getting food but the brothers couldn't be found! Eventually, Sito found them playing on the slope... He ushered Yang over to me but Yu had left for his HCL class.

After I was done with the books, Yang decided on a second lunch. He "gave me a treat" at the drinks stall :p The coffee from this drink stall was nicer than the other one but he didn't like his Milo as it tasted like tea. So he went to the other drink stall to get another Milo. 

We just sat around to wait for Papa and Yu. Watched some videos together :) Kai was seated near us but with his friends, playing chess. 

Playing with a Sec 1, who happened to be Yang's track and field friend

When Yu was done with his HCL, he came to find us and saw a kid go into the bookshop even though it was barricaded for textbooks during this period. I told him that the kid asked the auntie for permission to go in so he did the same. He came out of the bookshop with a pretty pink pencil for me :) We couldn't figure out how it works though. It took him two tries to eventually find out from the bookshop how to use the pencil - turned out it was an infinity pencil, so cool!

The PTM started late - and hence ended late - due to traffic jams as that day was also CCA open house for the secondary school kids. Sito said parents asked better questions in person. He asked about difficulty level of their P5 exams last year vs. PSLE standards and learnt that they were set at SEAB standards. Apparently, schools had to submit P3-6 papers to SEAB for sampling - too hard, too easy etc. He also noticed that Yang was bigger than many of his classmates - some went to the PTM with parents...

When Sito came back to the canteen, Yang and Yu were watching Kai playing chess. By then, they were tired and needed no ushering to leave. When we got home, Sito packed dinner for them and left for Bras Basah to get a book for Kai as it was out of stock at the bookshop. Bishan Popular didn't have it when we got their books...

Chess on the phone

I had some leftover chicken stock in the fridge and made myself some mee sua with eggs and frozen dumplings. Actually I tried to start a ritual of having mee sua for birthdays but the kids weren't too keen on it... Anyway, while waiting for Sito to come back and while waiting for the noodles to cool down, I managed to sew nametags on the new corporate tees. It's a chore...

Managed to cut the cake just before their bedtime!

Awww, I love how Kai put his head on me in this photo! This is the boy who refuses to let me hug or kiss him since P3... But sometimes, I think starting from Beijing, he would hug me to 哄妈妈 when I get upset and well, yes, I buy it... Sucker.

:p

Yesterday, we had a second celebration with the grands. The cake was so yummy but I couldn't stomach a second piece... And dinner was at Peach Blossoms - a la carte buffet. Second time there. Managed to have more variety this time with more adults. But there was a lot of food coz they didn't give us small portions as requested but portions for eight persons *.* But the kids don't eat most of the food!

Looks like a kiddy birthday though!

Took a slow walk back home, made even slower by the playground and exercise corner along the way. These monkeys can really make my heart race... I'm just glad the playground downstairs is a lot less scary than this one!

Love this shot of Yang! We were just talking about the trees on the building on the way there

All three on the 独木桥

So that's it for this year... But the cake doesn't end here.. I had wanted a Marks and Spencer chocolate cake for my birthday but it wasn't available so we will try to get it next week or so! Yay to cake!

Oh, Yay to getting old too! Don't mind mf looking old, heh! I found more white hair recently, probably due to tutoring Yang in Chinese in December... Also don't mind the colour but I mind that white hair is typically curlier?! Sighs.. Also yay to more rebonding then...!