The strange thing about U-Save rebates

Every month, I received my water bill from SP before receiving my electricity bill from Geneco. I save all my bills coz, um, I just do.

Then one day, I happened to see something odd in my April 2025 bills.

Before I continue, some background:

1. The water meter outside our house is read every even month; so the bills for January, March etc are estimated numbers.
2. The government provides U-Save rebates every quarter from January.
3. Given the timing of my two bills, U-Save is first used for SP with the remaining going to Geneco. I have more than enough rebate to cover water bill so there's definitely leftover rebate.
4. U-Save usage is summarised in the SP bill; the Geneco bill just indicates U-Save as a credit item.

In my April 2025 SP bill, however, I found that the U-Save rebate used was more than my bill, with the result that I had less U-Save to offset my Geneco bill that month.

When I asked SP where the money had gone to, SP said that the missing money was used for March 2025 water taxes+GST, which I had already paid for by the way. I paste the exact wording here:

We would like to explain that as the utilities charges for your even month bills are estimated*, the total Waterborne Fee (WBF) and Water Conservation Tax (WCT), inclusive of GST, will be credited back to the account in the subsequent odd month bill when the actual meter readings are taken. 

 

The U-Save amount will subsequently used to offset the total WBF and WCT charges for the two months, as well as the other utilities charges (water charges) for the billing month.

* My even months are actually not estimated! As stated in the background, my meter reading happens in even months; I have seen a guy walking by to record numbers...

I checked that the missing money was credited to my May bill, as expected after SP's reply. So I understand the maths but not the why. 

Maybe my tax rate is straightforward but some households may use so much water that their estimated bill is taxed at a higher rate and so, somehow, they need to recalculate water taxes after they have the actual reading?? 

But the point is, it's already paid. And, as I think about it, that should not affect the calculation. In months with no U-Save rebates, life also still goes on, right?? I really don't understand why this only happens in non-estimated months with rebates...

SP also said that "(t)his is to allow customers to fully benefit from the U-save rebates."

Simigui...!

How does this "allow customers to fully benefit from the U-save rebates" when (a) I have already paid the bill of the previous month including water taxes, and (b) I have to pay more upfront for my Geneco bill in the same month due to the U-Save being withheld for something I've already paid for, instead of having the full remaining rebates to offset it?

Ok, it's not a large sum and I get the full rebate in the end but that's not the point of my query. Seriously, what do they mean by allowing customers to fully benefit from the rebates when it's like withholding the rebates in April so I end up paying more for the rebates month when the bills could be better evened out over April and May??

These rebates are meant to offset utilities. I think it's more useful for families to spread out their costs evenly than to pay more upfront and then less the following month. I'm just glad I'm not running a tight household budget..

I really don't understand why they do this kind of messy accounting. It's a hassle for me to have to refer to three bills - March (for the water taxes), April (rebates month) and May (refund for March water taxes) - to track everything is in place.

So what did I do? I diligently created an excel table detailing the bills and U-Save rebates from January 2024. This practice appeared to have started back in October 2024. And it only happened when the U-Save rebate falls in a non-estimated month. That means I have to tally my numbers twice a year, for September-November and for March-May.

Anyway, I have written back to SP but haven't received a reply. I have also written to MOF but it looks like a feedback form so no idea if anyone will actually read it.

Aaaand it's now over a year ago... I started writing this last year but didn't have time to finish it and forgot about it until I was cleaning up my posts recently...

I'll be very happy if someone can enlighten me on this weird accounting 🙏 

PS: For anyone reading this who is interested to check your own bills:

1. Assuming your U-Save rebate is more than your SP bill, note the amount in the last line "This amount will be used to offset your next bill" under the table "Summary of Charges"
2. Refer to the amount in the last line "Closing Balance" under the table "Summary of U-Save"
3. If the amounts are not the same, the difference is due to water taxes in the previous bill.

The final lap

Yang's PSLE oral exams reminded us that we had moved back to HV for three years already. I remember coz the boys had no school on the two days after moving day and were just walking around the boxes and busy parents.

We worked very hard with Yang on both English and Chinese oral, with Chinese starting much earlier using Kai's Wang Laoshi materials - there was oral practice every week! I also attended a Mindstretcher zoom lesson on Chinese oral and collated loads of material. In the end, I summarised all the techniques in a 4x6" card for him to bring with him. 

During our practices, we reminded him of various experiences in both languages - how he thought of AhMa and brought her a cake（关爱老人）, the teen who took up three seats on the train （好公民，为人着想）, riding a bicycle （克服困难，一家人）, sharing at dinner time（家庭和谐）, local ND and mid autumn festival celebrations （社区活动）, and even an imaginary neighbour's parcel（邻里守望相助）!

Nearer the oral exams, the kids somehow found Crime Watch on YouTube. They've always been interested in it and would want to watch it if they happen to catch it on TV. So they watched old episodes whenever they could. The evening before the oral exams, Yang was at tuition when Yu watched an episode on burglary.

Now, there were English and Chinese oral exams on both days, and Yang happened to be assigned to English on day one. If he were to take Chinese on day one, I would be so upset he missed that burglary episode coz the Chinese video was a burglary! 

As usual, we didn't ask questions when he came home. Best to just focus on the next one. So it was Mandarin all the way that day. Even got them to watch Crime Watch in Mandarin, and a Tuesday Report on voluntary work since Talking Point doesn't come in Mandarin...

Prelims started the week after PSLE orals. Learning from our experience with Kai, we decided to just revise rather than do a last paper on the day before each paper. Too tiring for the kid. 

I didn't manage to go through our entire Chinese word bank. Only covered P6-P3, no time for P1-P2. The MCQ will more likely test P5-P6 words but he needs the rest for compo and comprehension... Ah well, we finished up after the prelims, and I'll probably do another round starting from P1 for the PSLE.

After his last paper, we brought him to Macs for lunch. A little treat to celebrate his efforts so far and also to motivate him for the next four weeks 💪💪💪

Relaxing after his Maths paper last Friday

Aside - yes, the sofa is new. Arrived 18 August, i.e. our old sofas lasted almost exactly three years. In fact, Kai's and Yu's individual sofas were long gone. Yang's was dented beyond words coz jumping. The parents' two-seater was kind of flat... Hope these old-school sofa - which came in through the windows! - can last...

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!

The fun before exam stress

I had wanted to write about the term break but found a lot more photos that hadn't been posted so, let's start from after National Day...

Sito learnt that our fave Japanese BBQ restaurant was closing down by end August so we made a trip there. It happened to be a PSLE oral exam day so Yang and Yu had no school. Kai joined us there directly from school. We had a great time there! 

Thanks for the memories, Kintan!

Our induction hob broke down in August. It started one Friday morning in July, when it suddenly couldn't detect my stainless steel pot I was using for barley water. Called for servicing but cancelled it coz I managed to get it to work. Then this happened on and off. I had to bring out our portable hob for hotpot to cook. Eventually, I could no longer get it to work :(

Called for servicing again. Uncle changed the circuit board for a whooping $390, and told us to keep the shelf below open to better dissipate heat and use pans with flat AND even bottoms, not those with circles. So that Saturday, we made a trip to Ikea to shop for new pans. But we're still using some of our old pans coz there are just no alternatives with even bottoms! I really cannot live without my four-hole egg pan...

We had been talking about going to Ikea at Alexander for some time but never got down to it. Finally, we packed our bags and set off! It was a nice walk to Ikea. Yes, we took the rail corridor and walked all the way!

Kai happened to walk alongside me and we had a good chat about school, his feelings towards school, our thoughts after PSLE results and after we saw how he's thriving in secondary school. It had been a long time since we had such a nice chat :)

We left the rail corridor to take a shorter route along the road to Ikea. The kids saw a black bag at the foot of an overhead bridge and said we should report it! I must say national education in school works. Ads also works btw - they keep telling us about random products haha! Anyway, I reported it on the SG Secure app 👍

The kids enjoyed Ikea as usual. We had an early dinner and walked through all the showrooms. The kids just liked to try everything! Also bumped into Kai's classmate. 

But the lower floor was harder coz no showrooms. We told the kids to stay in a safe spot and play games on Kai's phone. So Sito and I walked on and picked up our shopping. Then I texted Kai to follow the arrows to the next section, where they played games again while we shopped! This happened a few times until we got to the cashier.

Wanted to take a picture of them playing games - squatting! But no chance

Recently they started playing LEGO beyblades again. Made a mess whenever they wanted to "upgrade" their beyblades. Worse, we found broken grout! This contractor already did a lousy job with the grout. So what did not happened back in the old house after months of beyblade, happened here after just days. I must be zen.... Already extracted a promise from them to dismantle once they got Yu's birthday present from the grands - actual beyblades.

Cannot mop!

One day, Yang came home after tuition to say that he wanted to try the coffeeshop near the centre coz it smelled so good when he passed by! And so we went one day.

It was indeed very good! We were spoilt for choice but the boys had the same old - pork cutlet fried rice for Kai and char siew noodles for the brothers. Sito had the JB fried beehoon and I had duck noodles. And I added Indian rojak which was the cheapest I'd ever had!

Nowadays they get to use Kai's phone after dinner outside

Ah, term break coming... But first, Teachers' Day! Kai wrote a google review for his tuition centre 🤔 Yu decided to write cards. I gave him some coloured cards and stickers, and he did a great job making cards for all his teachers! Yang had some "diamonds" in his school locker which he gave his teachers.

Adding the finishing touches

My hub is very funny. He gets lots of food info from his social media feeds. And this time, it was a free burger from Macs. So he went to get it. The boys were very excited to see a burger for afternoon snack! But each had only a quarter, haha! I had some of Sito's - quite yummy! But Yang thought it was spicy...

Let's try a new burger!

On Teachers' Day itself, we met JY and family at Paradise Hotpot at Vivocity! We were the first in the reservations queue, yeah! We went earlier coz we didn't know the exact spot and 10 of us booked three tables - for five, four and one - as there wasn't another table for five. But the staff arranged it for us :)

Fat face in foreground :p

We decided to bring a term break activity forward since we were very near the destination - cycling at West Coast Park! But we passed by the library and the younger ones wanted to go in for a while.

Chinese Dog Man!

Took a train then a bus

Yu can finally ride a bike!

We had been working with Yang on his oral exams in the past week. He shared personal stories during the practices. I overheard "journey of brothers" when he was doing English with Sito. When I asked Sito, he said Kai coined the term when the three of them went cycling further away from us that day. So cute!!

The brothers

Decided to let them wear dark colours when going to AhMa's place coz they tend to drip ice cream on themselves there! All not focusing coz eyes on TV, body slouching etc.

There happened to be a bedsheets day during the term break. Instead of changing it, I decided to get them to change their own bedsheets. But I cut down the work - didn't wipe windows or desks that day, or even the bed frame. Just changed the bedsheets and pushed back the bed. 

These two happily brought their toys to the wash

Kai still has his toys in the cupboard so I don't wash much. He said they're for decoration. I read it as "cannot throw" :p

Last Saturday, we went to Swensen's - yes, again. Sito and I went again on Wednesday to redeem a free main course. We also have free buffet for two which we will redeem after all the exams.

Anyway, we spent enough to get a chance at a human claw machine! One chance so Sito went in. Told him not to grab any soft toys :p So he got chips and vouchers.

Looks like Super Mario!

Also got four tokens for the real claw machines. Kai asked about the chance of grabbing a toy. I gave a random 0.1%. It's really very low! Then he googled some and picked a machine, and voila!

"It's brains!"

The term break ended with the National Inter-school Team Chess Championship. Don't know how that's abbreviated to NST but anyway... Kai put his name down some months ago to form a team with some schoolmates. A parent registered for them. The team (and maybe more) met on Tuesday during the term break to discuss their games. 

Kai played board 2 and scored 4.5/6. The team won some and lost some. But we thought they did pretty well. It was a good experience. Think they're already talking about getting more in next year, as two team mates are sec 2 and wouldn't be playing with them in U14 category.

My not-so-little knight

While Sito was with Kai at Pasir Ris for the chess tournament, I was at Ah Yee's place with the brothers. They just hung out with JiuJiu before lunch. I promised them if they behaved well including eating well, I would let them play their phones after lunch. And so they were occupied while I chatted with relatives.

They ran ahead to the playground as I was packing up. But the playground was quiet... Then I saw Yang waving at me from beyond the playground - they were playing giant chess! Apparently the pieces were quite heavy. I stood there for 20min while they played - so tired coz I was carrying a lot of food! But ok la, they were very pleased :)

Yang won but both were happy :)

And with that, we're in term 4 now. Kai had listening compre and Chinese oral this week, and Yang English and Chinese oral. Kai's written exams will start next week. The brothers will have their starting the week after Kai has his last paper. And then there will be a short break before the primary school written exams, by when Kai would have started his term break.

Very short term. A lot to do. All the best to us all!

Moving moving! - Part I

Part I is on what happens in the old house, mostly packing. You can guess what Part II is about.

I lived in the same house for the first 19 years of my life. Then in university, I moved a lot:

• When staying in college in my first year, I had to move out during term breaks. For Xmas break, I went to a temp room. For Easter break, I bunked in with LS.
• Other years were great as I could stay in my room for term breaks. At least one summer though, I had to rent a temp room after my lease ended and before I came back to SG.
• But in my fourth year when I had to do a summer dissertation, I had to move for the summer as the college wanted to renovate the house.

Then during the upgrading in 2006-2007, I moved to Grams' place for a while to avoid the dust - and back again. 

These were small moves. As a student, I didn't have much beyond personal goods, and I brought only a suitcase to Grams'. The idea was to keep it simple. The major moves came with marriage... First was to move in with Sito in 2009 :)

But I didn't expect more moves to come - to Evanston in 2010, back to SG in 2012 but to a serviced apartment for a month before pulling our stuff out of storage back into our home just two weeks before Kai arrived!

After that, we had two big moves - HV to BP, and BP to HV. I'm so done! 

I actually started a one-line draft to this post back in Evanston (!) but I think I'm now more qualified to talk about moving...

Planning

Yes, must plan first! 

1. Decide what to dump, what to move, so that you can go to #2.

This means time for some Konmarie. If a blender is seldom - or god forbids, never! - used, Carousell away. I find it easier to list stuff as free - moves way more quickly. No loss to me since I don't use it.

For the frequently used stuff, two ways:

1. Buy new ones for the new place and dump old ones on moving day, e.g. TV (not as smart by then), well worn magic mop sweeper
2. Pack in the last couple of days / last day to bring along on moving day, e.g. kettle, facial moisturiser

Don't need to say which is more convenient but sometimes, no choice. 

For example, we bought new bed frames and mattresses when we moved to BP in 2018 so I set up everything nicely before moving day. Our old bed frame was falling apart and the kids were then on small mattresses. But for the move back to HV in 2023, we decided our sleep gear were still in very good shape so we dismantled the beds three days before moving, slept on mattresses on the floor, moved, reassembled after the move, and cleaned everything to sleep on moving day!

2. Estimate number of (a) moving boxes required and (b) big items requiring separate handling.

You need to tell the moving company so that they can provide enough enough boxes and give the correct quote, usually in terms of number of truckloads. Sito estimated our 2023 number based on 2018 number, plus more coz of accumulation. He also went around the house to look see and his estimate was pretty accurate!

For disposal of big items, movers will usually give a separate quote. HDB dwellers can also tap on town council to dispose of them for free, but nice to give some drink money to the workers who help you :)

3. Decide when to start packing.

Which depends on how much stuff you have and how much time you have. Remember that packing does not happen every day coz there's regular life to attend to as well. Also remember to factor in cleaning time for the new place. For our 2023 move, we started packing things that are less used three to four weeks before moving day coz had to...

4. Find space to store the boxes. 

Best enclosed to protect kids, else isolated enough that the kids wouldn't bother, especially if there's a need to stack high. We had to dismantle Kai's bed and used his room as a store room. He slept on a floor mattress in his brothers' room for a few weeks, oops :p

#3 and #4 can be combined if you decide to get white glove service - the packers will pack everything for you within a few hours max, just a couple of days before the move. You just eye power. I got a quote for this ~ $300-400 but decided to save the money. If you do this, you can go straight to Part II :p

Next, how to pack... 

First, get ready the boxes, tape, marker and pen and paper - need to label the boxes and write down in a list what's in each box to facilitate unpacking.

Remember to take a video for the memories before packing!

Less used stuff

This is easy. Memorabilia, decoration, books. Even if they don't fit into boxes, just remove them from their hiding places anyway. Like our memorabilia boxes at the top of our wardrobes - empty those shelves early and forget about them. 

Btw, don't pack boxes of books and books alone. They're very heavy! Our books took up max a third to half of the box, with lighter things on top. 

I would exclude winter gear here to avoid cardboard smell - see below on clothes and linen. But go ahead and throw in the shoes!

Oh, army stuff - Sito is already done with reservist but otherwise, pack them in one well-labelled box in case really suay kena called up!

Work, school and play stuff

Pare down to the minimum. The monitor can't fit into the box so can use to the end :p All documents, document trays, files and writing materials etc can be packed early. If the kids must lose that last eraser, here's $2 for the school bookshop! 

No need to do drawing or painting in those last few weeks. No need 1,001 toys too. Play with Toy X or just read library books. Remember to return said library books before moving :) Just don't accidentally pack library books into boxes...!

Big Lego structures may need some dismantling and packing into bags before putting into boxes.

Kitchen stuff

No time to make anything fancy while busy with final reno touchups, delivery of goods and packing. In fact, best to eat out or pack food in the last couple of days. So almost all appliances, cutlery and utensils can go into the boxes, save a small pot for comfort food aka instant noodles, kettle and cups. 

For opened goods, put them into big boxes or clean plastic bags before packing into the boxes. Not nice to have cardboard smell in food??! Not all the boxes provided by movers are brand new too...

Don't forget the fridge until it's too late. Must disconnect early to cool down the hot parts, and after the move, must let it stand for a couple of hours to ensure compressor/refrigerant etc has settled before turning it on. That means it's best not to stock up on ice cream, frozen meat etc. From when? Could be from weeks before you start packing so the planning is important!

But what about regular items like dark soy sauce, garlic salt and dried scallops? Get help from family/friends or an ice box that can last at least eight hours*. We pack our stuff in a cold bag and brought over to my in-laws' place that day before the big move.

* More is better. It's at least two hours each before and after, and another four hours for the actual move - weather and traffic may not be kind, worse if you have to dismantle the door and put it back again *.* Speaking from experience...

Cleaning materials

Sito had a good laugh when he was packing some six 3L unopened bottles of laundry sanitiser. Coz I bought a lot during a sale months ago.... Oops...

Anyway, make sure you have enough cleaning materials including laundry powder, toilet cleaner, general wipes and rags for the last days and for cleaning up after moving - need to hand over the house properly to the next occupants. 

Clothes and linen

I cannot put clothes and linen directly in moving boxes. If I do that, I'll have to wash them all over again. Yes, I'm OCD like that. Even if the boxes are new. This is where an old duvet cover or bedsheet is very useful! Heck, I would use my fave duvet cover if that's the only one available!

Just line the moving box with the duvet cover/bedsheet, and dump the stuff inside together with the hangers (if any). Keep them clean between the old and the new wardrobes :) Then just wash the duvet cover/bedsheet. Done!

Also make full use of suitcases - they need to be moved too so might as well put clothes in them, assuming they're clean, else there's always the duvet cover. In fact, I kept bringing clothes over when cleaning up the new house - might as well!

For clothes that should not be crumpled into boxes like suits, movers can provide a clothes rack - they'll hang the suits, wrap with clingfilm and move. It's unlikely they'll provide more than one or two though... If you have your own, they can wrap it up and move for you too - just remember to mention when asking for quotes.

Minimise dirty laundry to bring over by doing your last laundry as late as possible. Don't bother packing dirty laundry - just bring the whole laundry basket over.

Two things to remember:

1. Prepare clothes and towels for moving day and perhaps the next couple of days, and put them in a suitcase for easy access.
2. Pack clothes and linen last so they don't get much cardboard smell. Duvet cover is totally porous...

Big stuff

Things that don't fit into moving boxes, e.g. large paintings, furniture, white goods. See above for fridge.

Movers will secure doors to cabinets etc but good to empty them so things will just rock and roll inside during the move. 

Some stuff needs dismantling to fit into the lift or to ensure safety for both movers and goods, e.g. bed frames. Note that dismantling and assembling attract fees. As it turned out, we realised that it wasn't difficult to DIY.

Finally, the move.

This is easy after all that planning and packing. Do a few checks to ensure nothing (big!) gets left behind. Tell the main guy on the ground what to move, what to dump etc.

Usually the movers' truck cannot take people. So someone must be present to lock up in the old house and open up in the new house. I think the latter is more important coz you want to tell movers where to put the various things.

We had 1.5 truckloads so the movers had to return for a second trip. So we left for the new house while they were still packing coz they drove and we took MRT :p I gave them the door code and the access card for the old house, to be returned after the move.

After moving

Not done yet, ok... I went back to the old house a couple of days later to clean up a bit. Lots of dust from the moving, e.g. under the fridge. Also found that the movers did not throw away our old duvets. I felt lucky it was just that and not the old washing machine! After clearing rubbish and checking that the keys etc were nicely laid out for the new occupants, I said a last goodbye and left with the last of my cleaning materials.

And that's it!

Taking over from the helper - Part II

I started this post back in 2022 when we were still staying at BP.. Finally I'm finishing it!

*********

Following Part I on clean-repair-replace, here's Part II on changing the way things are done.

Cooking - Helper would start preparing at 4.00 or 4.30 pm to get dinner to the table by 5.30 pm. But I want to spend as much time with the kids as possible, so:

• Prepare ingredients in the morning, marinade them etc and pop them into the fridge - this usually takes much longer than the actual cooking!
• Bring out the ingredients and set the rice cooker at 4.30 pm
• Start cooking by 5 pm - I usually takes 15-30 min to cook and serve.
• Use thermal pot recipes where possible - no need to cook in the evening! Very helpful when we had swimming lessons - I could get the laundry going and dish out hot porridge by the time they were done with showering!

And of course, use less oil and salt! It's hard to gauge how much salt helper used as we used salt water to soak fruits but we used to buy 2L/5L bottles of oil every couple of months! As we happened to start new bottles of oil when moving to HV, I realised that I used only 7L in one year, including deep frying just once or twice.

Laundry - see separate post. While the kids can't help with cooking, this is easy to involve the kids - get them to fold their clothes! Very ugly and full of creases but I don't care coz it's their home clothes :p Anyway I still hang up school uniforms and street clothes. Should teach them how to iron clothes by end of sec school..

Cleaning - I had a task list for the helper, comprising daily, weekly and monthly tasks. Now I know exactly what to do so no need to stick the list on my fridge already. But I have a Google calendar for chores to remind me of less frequent stuff like cleaning the washer or under the fridge.

High-frequency areas which I have changed:

• Reduce bathroom cleaning from three times a week to twice once a week coz Auntie is busy - and the kids' toilet is where I don't want to go in often! Back in our old place, I even closed up the third bathroom totally - one fewer to clean ✌️ 
• Change kitchen and hand towels every day instead of I-don't-know-previous-frequency! Nowadays, coz the boys make their vanity so wet, I have to change their hand towels twice a day..
• Use Robot-kun for the floors, including the balcony in the old house, instead of mop cloths. But I still used Magiclean and even steam cleaning for the yard in the old house coz it got very dirty from the elements.

Also added new tasks: 

• Steam the floors every month - I bought this to sanitise the floors and coz I heard it helps clean up oily areas. But in the end, I'm very pleased that it cleans dirty grout lines and also the dirt spots left behind by Robot-kun. But I'm lazier after moving to HV, a lot more things to shift to steam floor!!!

• Steam kitchen accessories with the same steamer but with different steam heads - When I first did this in the old house, a lot of black stuff came out of the tap handle! 🤮 Used it to clean sink drain and hood filter covers too. Again, lazier in HV but my sink is very clean now and I have no hood.

• Vacuum the aircon units - Helper used to wash the filters monthly. When I took over, I got more regular servicing instead. Then I forgot about the servicing one time and it was too close to school holidays; I prefer to do this when kids are not home. So I washed the filters myself. This is easy enough so I'm still doing it, plus brushing the coils. So far only need annual servicing :)

• Clean the microwave every week - when microwaving kitchen wiping cloths and sponge, the steam makes the inside of the microwave all wet, which makes it perfect for cleaning! I don't think it was ever cleaned before coz not in the task list, unless there were obvious stains...

• New for HV: Cleaning the corridor windows twice a year - these sliding windows get really dirty from dust! Sito will clean the corridor side while I handle the inside. Need a bottle spray, a squeegee and lots of rags! The casement windows in the bedrooms always get a wipe every time I change bedsheets.

Hmm, it looks like it's more than changing how things are done but also adding on things to do...

Anyway, hope this info is helpful for families who are looking to take over from a helper! :)

The work desk

Heard on TV (earlier in July :p), something about how many people were not equipped to work from home when the pandemic hit. 

I cannot understand. The underlying statement here is that these were people who could work from home, but what was happening before the pandemic? They worked long hours in office? They worked on their bed? They had no need to bring work home??

I remember I was surprised when I heard from a colleague that she worked on her bed whenever she requested to work from home to take care of her sick cat. (That was before the pandemic. Later, due to pandemic WFH, she bought a desk.)

Really, I thought everyone would have a desk for work. I mean, if you're working, you have the means right? And a desk can be very small to suit small spaces - like those in schools. 

I grew up hearing about 书房 study on TV but not having one. What a wonderful idea that is, a room of books and for studying!

In my early schooling years, I would sit on the floor in front of the coffee table in the living room to do my homework. (Don't know why coffee tables were such a thing - we never had one in three homes.) Later, I shifted to the dining table, double the size of the coffee table. 

I also used to read one whole week of accumulated newspapers at the dining table from P5, while the rest were watching TV at night. That stopped only when we stopped getting free newspapers. I never like reading them anyway :p (But now I read the digital version.)

The dining table was probably where I spent a lot of time studying. Homework in the afternoon, packed away for dinner, homework in the night, revision. 

I remember studying for exams at the dining table in secondary school. Somehow I have this image of me poring over a geography textbook in the kitchen under the glaring fluorescent light, everywhere else dark. Oh how I hated geography, haha!

Then there were those endless maths tutorials in JC, each question taking up to 30min to solve. The dining table was full by then - the one-page tutorial with references to 10-year series (TYS) books, the TYS books, other homework, the foolscap pad I was using, stationery etc.

In university, each bedsit came with a desk. Mostly proper desks - I had a small desk supplemented by a dressing table (!) in my first year.

During the summer back in Singapore, I would sit on a stool next to the telephone table (seriously) in order to use the internet - it was still dialup for me!

When I first started work, I seldom brought work home coz we were using desktops. At most brought papers home to read. But soon enough, I got a laptop. Where do I work? I can't remember - probably the dining table again, or the sofa since it was just one item. But when the need to send/receive emails arose, I worked next to the phone again!

I vividly remember one night, sitting on the floor with the laptop on the stool coz too hot, logging on to send papers off for a meeting. And shortly, I received an SMS from a colleague telling me something was off with a paper. We carried on like it was nothing strange doing this at 2 am *.*

It wasn't until after the upgrading that (1) we finally got broadband and (2) I had a proper desk! That was life-changing man... That desk was also my dressing table and bedside table rolled into one.

When we got married and moved to our own home, we had one desk to share. I don't remember why when both of us tended to work a lot at home after hours! Eventually, after the MBA, Sito worked more overseas so I took over the one desk almost completely. He used the desk sometimes but else it was the bed for him.

Then when we moved to Bukit Panjang, again, we had one desk! That was clearly MINE! Though I recently saw a photo of Sito using it too :p It wasn't until the pandemic that we bought a second desk as Sito had to work full-time from home too.

And now, we have a 2m desk with a drawer cabinet dividing it into two parts, one for each of us :) He spends more time at the desk. The boys spend time here too, even though they have their own desk already. They like to crowd together. I often find all four of them here. 

In the picture below, Kai was working on sthg on his own with his brothers on the floor, getting a respite from the heat outside. Thanks for saving on aircon bills? :p But this means no space for me, grrr...

Recently, Kai was studying a lot in his room to prepare for PSLE (last day today, yay!). I'm so glad he has the space which I didn't have as a child. Later in December, we will also shift Yu's bed out of Yang's room so that they get their own space as well - Yang would be in P5 next year, need to study more without the monkey monkeying around...

One year in!

On Saturday, 17 August, I suddenly realised we have moved here for just over a year!

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.

A thought about plastic bags

It has been almost a year since July 2023 when the supermarkets began charging for plastic carriers.

I remember having a huge store of plastic bags from supermarkets when we had a helper. After we axed the helper, the store dwindled down to a very manageable number - always enough for rubbish with no more than a few extras just in case. 

I suspect it's the packing. Helper paid at a manned counter. The cashier probably double-bagged the milk, and we bought four to five of those 2L bottles every week. When I went to the supermarket, I packed as much as possible into one bag and I never double-bagged the milk. Sometimes, I didn't even take a bag if I bought only one bottle.

Still, when I heard the news, I felt sian, coz I would have to spend money on what had been free, to line my rubbish bins. As it turns out, I realise I don't need to spend a lot on plastic bags. Almost a year on, I'm maybe into my second or third pack of 30-a-pack plastic bags. 

In the old house, the rubbish chute was next to the lift. I only wanted to go out max once a day to throw rubbish coz I was fearful of the small (heng!) cockroaches which were often around the chute. Once, I opened the chute to find it filled with a big item that didn't go down and I had to spend more time there to push it down - didn't know which neighbour, grrrr...

Also, there was an ant nest somewhere in the kitchen and they came very quickly if I left food out. So I always put the clear bag* of food waste from food preparation into the rubbish bin. This means the rubbish bin definitely filled up by the end of the day. On days I didn't cook, the bin might not fill up but if there was any food scraps like biscuits, I would also throw out the bag.

* These are the rolled bags in supermarkets used to contain loose items of vege and fruits. I also use them to contain meat packs in case meat juices leak out. Still free in supermarkets but they seem thinner these days...

So I used at least one bag per day for rubbish in the old house. On Fridays when I empty the vacuum, it's plus one. Now, I throw out one bag every two to four days. No, not gross at all.

The chute is now right next to my sink. After preparing food, I tie up the clear bag (or ziplock bags that come with my frozen meat, a new favourite) and throw it into the chute immediately. In the evening, I also throw out a small bag of wet food scraps - could be as small as those bags for individual buns, or as big as a clear bag if I have to throw out soup scraps. A little torn? No problem - tape the hole with masking tape. 

So my rubbish bin only gets tissue, snack wraps and dry food scraps. There were ants at first but they were due to snack crumbs dropped on the floor near the bin. I cleaned out the bin a couple of times. Eventually, after applying insecticide at all entry points, I can afford to leave some food scraps in the bin for some time. The exception is banana skins which attract fruit flies easily. 

With Yang having a banana every morning, I now have a secondary bin in the fridge, to store food waste to throw later, when the rubbish bin is relatively full. These are from individually wrapped oranges, strawberry boxes, and even ice cream pint tubs - when we finish a tub of ice cream at night, we don't throw it in the bin coz it may attract ants, or down the chute coz it's not tight enough AND we don't want some nocturnal thing flying out of the chute at us! So we leave the tub in the fridge, perfect as my little food rubbish bin. 

Big empty cake boxes with cake stains can stay in the fridge too until I'm ready to bring to the bin downstairs - no point wasting a bag to bag it and it may be too large to go smoothly into the chute anyway.

Then there are bags that don't fit our rubbish bin:

• Small carrier bags, e.g. bakery, Old Chang Kee, clinic - perfect for the vacuum dust box or barley from our weekly boil. They get tied and fed directly to the chute.
• Big carrier bags, e.g. Daiso - store recycleable stuff until it's full enough to bring to the blue bin downstairs. This also helps to protect the recycleables from contaminants.
• "Untieable" bags, e.g. Watsons - I don't take them but Sito sometimes blur blur brings one home. Tie with rubber bands if I have any, or use it for recycleables.

Sometimes, we get supermarket-size plastic bags too - forget to bring our reusable bag, buying more than our bag can take, shop doesn't charge for bags :p So each pack of 30 plastic bags can last a long time. But actually, these are only slightly cheaper than the 5cents at supermarkets.

There are two side effects of charging for plastic carriers.

1) Excessive number of reusable bags!

Been around for some time. In fact, I wrote about it before. I think reusable bags are sturdier than plastic bags when it comes to heavy stuff. Nowadays, we buy six 1L cartons of milk from Cold Storage and one plastic bag would not be able to take it due to the stiff edges of the cartons. 

Usually, one bag is sufficient for me. But a few times when we went to Sheng Siong, we bought too much for our bag. I don't always remember to bring a second bag so I would buy a plastic bag.

Why don't I buy a reusable bag? Coz honestly, I have a lot of reusable bags. And I much prefer fabric bags and not the plasticky type sold at supermarkets. It's inevitable that some meat juice or vege soil will dirty the bag. I find it's better to throw it into the washing machine to wash than to just wipe with a wet cloth.

2) Dirtier chutes?

One of the first thought I had when I heard about the charging of plastic bags was whether more people would just throw rubbish directly into the chute without bagging them *.* I hope not... I'm glad we're on a high floor so less chance of unbagged rubbish hitting our chute. It's very gross lor!

I'm all for being environmentally friendlier but let's be honest, we do need plastic bags to hold some shopping and to contain rubbish. While it is possible to bring a reusable box for your next bakery run, it is not always feasible. And rubbish - if it's not contained, we will end up with smelly environments thanks to decomposing food in this hot climate!

In summary:

1. Give all the plastic bags you receive from shopping a second chance - these may be carrier bags, supermarket clear bags or bakery bun bags. Keep the big ones for lining the bin and use the small ones for peskier rubbish. Other shapes and sizes can be use to contain recycleables.
2. Fill up each bin bag so there's no wasted space - separating your waste can extend the lifespan of the bigger bin bags until they're full. Just throw peskier waste in smaller bags or keeping them in the fridge until you're ready to empty the bin.

Occupation: Parents

14 March, I came across a post on Facebook where a young lady wondered if she should pay her boyfriend who paid for all their meals together. In case anyone is wondering why I get this in my feed, it's from a page which I clicked on before coz kaypoh *.*

In fact, I started getting feeds from this group called Dull Men's Club all of a sudden and after reading a few posts, I also started getting feeds from Dull Women's Club, haha! Um, ya...

But I digress... Back to the 14 March read... Online responses were varied. Personally, I do think it's good to do that coz I did that!

When Sito and I were dating, I made sure I paid for my share of our meals unless either of us made it clear it was a treat, e.g. birthday. Maybe coz I have seen and heard enough of how some girls took advantage of their boyfriends or even just male friends, and I was determined not to be like that. 

When we got married, we had a joint account but it was more to pay for mortgage. Our daily expenses still came out of our own accounts. I can't remember clearly now but each of us probably took turns to pay for groceries and outside meals. We don't keep tabs coz married :)

On hindsight, it was indeed more convenient to charge household stuff like utilities to our own accounts coz we opened and closed a number of joint accounts every time we remortgaged or took out a new one with another bank. The only time we had an all-purpose joint account was when we were in Evanston.

As our family grew, we had more and more joint expenses. All the kids' and household expenses - child development accounts, savings account, payment child care fees and school fees, helper's pay and levy, groceries etc - are paid out of my account. Sito always pays for all the meals when we eat out, unless my credit card has a better deal!

Not uneven although child care fees at one point came up to some $3,500 per month (!) coz Sito gives me a monthly allowance 家用 - can't remember when that started though. Later, when child care fees dropped and dropped, the allowance remains the same, which is helpful now that I'm not working!

I think we are really lucky that we both had a steady income since graduation and could both chip in on daily and major expenses. We are also very lucky - in fact, super blessed - to be able to enjoy simple things in life. There is no lifestyle creep. We used to pack cai fan for dinner on our way home from work when we first got married. Today, we still like cai fan; during school holidays when I don't cook much, cai fan is our choice, much to the kids' chagrin though! 

Years of steady income and our lifestyle have, together, enabled us to be full-time parents now. I stopped working from 2022 and Sito stopped one year later. We have been happily enjoying mornings on school days, going out sometimes. In the afternoons and on non-school days, we work with the kids on their work or just chill. When the kids are sick, there's always someone to bring them home and take care of them at home.

Some say 吃风？Of course cannot jiak hong with three kids in tow!

Our savings are working hard to support our simple lifestyle. Love them T bills in this high interest climate, haha! Sito does other things as well, things I don't quite understand so I shan't say more. 

I think it's important for the kids to know that even though we're not in regular jobs, we're not idle. On school days, we're usually busy with them in the afternoons. Else, they see Papa at work on his laptop. They see Mama busy with laundry, cleaning and cooking. They can't help Papa much but I get them to help with laundry (grudgingly) and cleaning (voluntarily coz dusty or happy coz reward is TV). Yang is interested in helping me cook - maybe when I'm sure he won't anyhow brandish the kitchen knife...!

It's also important for them to understand the value of money. Obviously they don't know yet. Unlike me, they grow up with everything they need and more. Yet, they don't find it enough, kids being kids. So we're planning a hands-on lesson on money management in dining after exams this year. Akan datang...

Last year, after Sito stopped working, Kai thought Papa was rich, coz rich enough to not work. On the other hand, AhMa thought her son was poor, coz not working. We had such a good laugh! Truth is, we're neither; we just have enough. Our jobs indeed allowed material luxuries but gave us no time or energy for each other and the kids. We never needed material luxuries so it was easy to give up work income in exchange for time, time for the things that truly matter.

一寸光阴一寸金，寸金难买寸光阴！

PS: One thought led to another so I had a hard time coming up with the title for this post! After chatting with Sito, I settled on this title. Then he just said our society doesn't consider parents a job, more of a side hustle! Haha!

An encouraging song, but not useful

Two weeks ago, we were watching TV in the living room when I somehow had to go to our room. As I walked in, I saw a small lizard on the floor near the door. It looked like the one hiding in our study. It saw me and crawled back in. I followed it while asking Sito to bring a box. But the lizard changed direction and aimed for our bed! 

We couldn't get it out - it was on the floor under the middle of our bed. Then, it crawled to a leg. I tried to trap it with the box but missed. 

And then it disappeared!!!!!!

My heart sank. I would have to sleep with a lizard hiding under the bed. It may come out at night. Would it go on the bed? Horror of horrors!!

I felt so sian and was scared to sleep. Then a song popped into my head. I changed the lyrics to suit my situation, as a form of encouragement. But I kept waking up at night, sighs...

A couple of days later, I spotted a small lizard at the dining area. Looked like the same one. I could sleep better but dining area 🤮 It refused to fall into the lizard trap after five days. Then I saw a small lizard going into the gap between the bookshelf and the skirting - it was fairer so I thought it molted. But a couple of days on, I saw the darker one at the dining area again. Two lizards!!!!!!

I want to cry.

This morning, I spotted a small lizard near the fridge. Didn't see the colour clearly. In any case, I'll leave the lizard trap there. Save my time moving it out of our robot mop's way.

Anyway, here's the song:

*** *** ***

I’m so afraid, I’m so petrified
Thinking I would sleep with you right under my bed
And after spending hours
Thinking how you did me wrong
I grew strong
And I learnt how to get along

Now you're back
From I don’t know where
And I find you here
With that empty look on your face
I should've whacked you with a mop
Or let you crawl along
If I'd've known for a second
You'd be hiding in my bed

Go on, go, walk out the door
Turn around now
You're not welcome anymore
You're the one who tried to scare me with a hi
Think I'd crumble?
You think I'd lay down and die?

No, not I, I will survive
Long as I know how to sleep, I know I'll stay alive
I've got whole night to sleep
And the hub is by my side
I will survive
I will survive!

A lizard's tale

I had a huge lizard scare this morning. I don't know which was bigger - the lizard or the scare...

Monday night, I turned on the light to find a huge lizard just above the window in the kitchen. I shooed and it went out. We closed the kitchen window and our bedroom window which are separated by only a narrow wall.

Yesterday morning, I sprayed lizard repellent all over the underside of the awning right outside both windows and all walls outside these windows. Last night I left the windows open as usual.

This morning, I turned on the light and saw a huge lizard on the door of a base cabinet in the kitchen. It looked just like the one on Monday night. It must be biding for a chance to enter our home! Grrrr...

The thing is, this lizard froze. It didn't move when I shooed it. I remembered how JY killed a roach and a lizard recently with her Magiclean stick so I pulled two dry sheets over mine and armed myself in front of the lizard.

But I could not do it!!!!

And it was not just because the pad was wobbly due to the rotational function of the stick.

I was scared. And I didn't dare to kill a big thing.

I thought of shooing it again but it didn't move even when I put the stick very close. I wondered if the lizard repellent had made it blur.

Kai woke slightly later than usual which bought me some time. But when I heard him turn off his aircon, I decided I had to get the day going. Nuked the milk first. Armed myself again.

Still cannot!!!

Kai was upset when he saw that breakfast was not ready. This boy is always gan cheong in the morning...

"It's just a stupid lizard!"

Then you help me la... But I didn't say that. I just held my stick sadly. By then, the lizard turned its body a little... 

Then Yang and Yu got up. Oh no, I had to get the day going!

I asked Yang if I should kill it. The last time we had a lizard in the morning, a small one, I trapped it under a clear box and he asked me to set it free. But this time...

"Yes, kill it!"

I hesitated. And this boy came over and took the stick from me!

"I'll help you do it."

Wa! My hero!

But no la, I didn't let him do it... No blood on my child's hands, hoho!

I went to tell Sito. I don't know why. Was I expecting he would kill it? Eh, maybe. But no, he muttered sthg and remained in bed *.*

Yang encouraged me and offered his, um, service again. On the other hand, Yu was standing a bit further.

"I'm scared..."

Don't teach my children such fears, I told myself. 

"Ok, I'm inspired by my brave Yang! I shall do it!"

I hesitated some more but eventually, I whacked it!

And I didn't let go. I knew it was under the pad now but what would happen when I let go?

Well, first the tail dropped and continued to wiggle on the floor! (Btw, it continued to move long after the lizard was dead!) Then the lizard piaked onto the floor and moved off! I chased it with the stick and quite quickly killed it. It took another three whacks? There was slight blood stains on the door and two spots on the floor.

I felt a bit sad :( Relieved, yes, but also a bit sad. Or maybe scared. I don't know.

At this point, Sito came out and told me it was less easy to kill as it was a vertebrate. Thanks ah...

My brave boy with his roselle plant which I dumped ytd coz it was dying

It was interesting to see the reactions of the three - one couldn't be bothered, one wanted to help, one was hiding. All three were super cute, even Kai's irritated response. But Yang was the cutest la. Next time your turn! But let me get a non-wobbly stick first.

It was also interesting to see my reaction. There were always lizards in AMK. And their poop. I leave them alone coz I didn't need to do anything about it. I mean, Mother was there right? Haha! But there was two memorable episodes.

I saw two big, fat, white lizards fighting under the TV shelf one day. I heard noises and peeked. I think I backed off. Not my fight! On retrospect years later, I wondered if they were mating :p

The second episode was downright horrifying. I was having dinner on the chair next to the wall when a lizard jumped from the wall right behind my ear into my plate and continued running off! Wth! I cried, tears and all. To this day, I couldn't fathom why it would do that...

When Sito and I moved into our first home together, there was also a few memorable lizard episodes - lizard ran across the kitchen counter, lizard giving me a scare behind the dish rack, lizard in the bathroom! We put up lizard traps a couple of times. 

I think it was in our second home when I began to fear and then hunt lizards. We had many, many lizards. When I was working from home, I kept heard the tsk tsk tsk noise from somewhere near the fridge. After helper left, it took many lizard traps to finally reduce the population to nothing except for an unlucky few which ventured in. Now that I think about it, there was an insane number of lizard scares.

• Lizard crawled over my foot in the kitchen! 
• Lizard ran across the middle of the living room and over my foot again! 
• Single popcorn on the floor in the morning when I dumped it in the bin last night - thanks, lizard. 
• Lizard ran from me to in between kids' mattress and the wardrobe - wa liao I just had to let it be else I would wake the kids! 
• Lizard on the microwave door frame kena squashed when Sito closed it to heat up his food - yes there was a crunch! Then helper said the food was covered so could still be eaten *.* Nope, we threw the food away.
• Lizard scaring me when I pushed the curtains aside to clean the floor. 
• Lizard on clothes hanging in the yard. 
• Lizard escaping from dining table / pantry counter when we turned on the light. 
• Baby lizard on desk which I ignored but climbed from behind to under the desk, ending up on my thigh!!

I have SKP boxes to trap lizards to throw. But they only work for small lizards. And it may take a long time for them to crawl up so that I could slide in the cover. In the past six months of living here, I had trapped only two or three. The rest, apart from this morning, I had to use the lizard spray to help kill it.

My heart is thumping as I write this. Very scary to kill something this big. 

Yes, yes, I know some people say that lizards are good coz they eat small insects. I saw online how some people set up "humane traps" for lizards and then release them outside. Then they'll go back or to another house?! I can't stand lizards coz they leave poop about and worse, they look damn scary! 

I know it's impossible to keep lizards out the whole time but I'll keep up my weekly sprays. If it cannot repel 100%, at least let it retard the lizards so I could whack them!

Domestic god

If I'm a domestic goddess, Sito must be a domestic god.

When he was working, it was just wiping the dining table after some meals on weekends and the occasional repair - usually the wifi, the washer tap and whacking roaches... In the past year, he has been doing more and more at home.

For our move, he fixed a lot of furniture and cleaned the house with me. After moving, he took on duties for all the window panes and frames while I dust off the grilles. I'm happy coz some windows do not have grilles :p

Wiping the windows from the corridor

He also takes on various repair work, like epoxy on cracked tiles (!), and sealing gaps to seal off insects. Two nights ago, he even dismantled our aircon casing to get to an ant nest! But it was inside so we just killed and cleaned what we could see.

Sealing the last edge of our 5m of kitchen cabinet

On a daily basis, he sets up the dining table and washes the water bottles. While I wake early to prepare the boys for school, he fetches them home, which frees me up to prepare a better lunch for them. When I'm out with friends or sending a kid for tuition, he takes on a simple lunch for the other two.

And the most important of all, he took on kiddy duty, specifically tuition! Kai has improved a lot :) He also sorts out the exam papers to give to the kids regularly. In past years, I only gave them papers during exam time - I think I brought them to the playground more often? :p

It's more difficult to settle the kids' revision now that all three are in formal schooling. So it's great that Sito is here! But it's still two against three so for now, we just let Yu do simple things or even just reading. We'll see how when he gets to P3 when there will be exams...

My domestic god will be taking on more duties in the coming week! Details later... Jia you, my dear!

Sweet sweet Yang

Yang is a very sweet boy. He always says he wants to help me around the house, doing things that I would do, and not kiddy stuff. The other day, he told me the bookshelves were very dusty. So I gave him wipes to clean them up.

He also helped me with lunch sometimes, cracking and beating eggs, bringing things for me, putting cheese slices on top of hot buns, etc. 

Here, he's helping to thread a needle for me coz I couldn't see

He didn't manage to do it in the end but it was still so nice that he was willing to help :) I was sewing up his Ultraman soft toy which had many holes...

Sample of a hole - before then after

I love to put him in bed the most coz he would let me hug him properly :) Yu is always wriggling about while Kai is always trying to be funny when it should be peaceful time, sighs...

This boy also tells me often that he likes my (fat) belly and he doesn't want me to die. In fact, he wants me to live to 200yo!! And he wants to keep my ashes when I die, instead of scattering them into the sea as per my request, for two reasons: (1) he doesn't know where to scatter ashes :p, (2) so he can talk to me, awww...

I was thinking the other day that the composite face of Sito and me looked a bit like Yang. Now that I dug it out, actually only the face shape looked like Yang. Maybe it's the fringe - Yang has baby hair at the fringe line when I sweep up his fringe. 

I shall go hug him now :)