Chronicles of the Destructive Force Part 1

Chronicles of the Destructive Force Part 1

The destructive force swept through my house like a hurricane. Within 1 week of HBL, he’s broke :

  • the Angel of Hope I carefully brought back from the States. He was hitting his table tennis balls in the house and it knocked it off the display shelf and beheaded it. I was hopping mad. He tearfully emptied his entire piggy bank of $35 and borrowed $22 from Daddy (to be paid back in instalments of $2 per week) to buy one off EBay.
  • all these table tennis balls. I’ve absolutely no idea how he managed to crack them up like this. That’s why he’s named the destructive force.
  • a Gaudi display mug that’s twice his age. I was bathing when he did it so I’d absolutely no idea what he did. When I came down, he was 罚站 in a corner in the living room. Unable to find it online for him to buy it and go into further debt. Do not be mistaken that he’s crying out of remorse. He’s agonised because he’s had his computer game and tv rights removed for 1 month.
The Beheaded Angel of Hope
The Beheaded Angel of Hope
Pulverised Table Tennis Balls
Pulverised Table Tennis Balls
Feeling sorry for himself because of the ban. Picking up the shattered pieces of my beautiful Gaudi cup. T.T
Feeling sorry for himself because of the ban. Picking up the shattered pieces of my beautiful Gaudi cup. T.T

At the rate he’s going, I won’t have a house left by the end of HBL. 😩

#hbl #sigina #xiaoxiaobaobei #destructiveforce #angelofhope #gaudi #tabletennis

Tiring Out the Destructive Force Part 1

Tiring Out the Destructive Force Part 1

When the kid starts running around in the house, breaking my precious limited edition figurines, he gets sent out to do skipping. To work off excess energy!!

Oh have you finished skipping? Hmmm… go and do one-legged skipping. Yes. 1-legged. Shoo shoo!

What else can I make him do after this??? 🤔😩

#hbl #covid19 #destructiveforce #skipping

Abundant Basil Leaves – Dried and Bottled

Abundant Basil Leaves – Dried and Bottled

Browsing recipes is part and parcel of #cb (call it phase 2 or whatsoever but it’s essentially cb lar. Or cb1.5 🤷🏻‍♀️). A lot of recipes use dried basil. I was going to order a bottle of basil on RedMart then it just occurred to me what a goondu I was! Lots and lots of organic basil in my yard and I was going to pay for it on RedMart?!

So I harvested the leaves and air dried them. Looks like the ones in bottles ya?? Except mine aren’t shredded yet.

Air dried basil leaves in a basket
Air dried basil leaves in a basket

Upon advice from my friend, I baked them in my oven at the lowest temperature for 30 mins to make sure there’s no more moisture trapped in the leaves to prevent mould. Baking them now!

The basil leaves shrank a lot after baking.
The basil leaves shrank a lot after baking.

They’ve shrunk a lot after baking but they smell really fragrant!!

Time to bottle them!!

Fragrant basil leaves bottled!
Fragrant basil leaves bottled!

#yardtotable #basil #herb

Ming and the Piano

Ming and the Piano

He proudly showed us his result slip. “I’ve got perfect score! Only 3 people in 2 classes got it!” “Huh! So easy arh! Your examiner must have been very lenient.” He didn’t take offence. Probably was in a super good mood 🤣 Or he didn’t hear me. 🤭

The good thing was… he dropped the idea of stopping lessons.

“Mommy, if I’m too busy, the first thing I want to stop is Yamaha.” “Aiya you only practise 5 mins every day. How much time will you save?? 5 mins??” “Nooo! I practise 15 mins every day ok! Not 5 mins!!!” “Ok lor. You save 15 mins every day. What would you do with this extra 15 mins?? Watch Netflix?? Anyway 15 mins a day can get you good results, what’s your problem huh?” “Ok ok. Don’t make me practise more than 15 mins!” 🙄

Extremely satisfied with his perfect score!
Extremely satisfied with his perfect score!

#sigina #foreverbargaining #yamaha

HBL exercise – Cycling

HBL exercise – Cycling

Our morning exercise today – cycling!! Our tyres were totally flat because we hadn’t cycled for quite a long while. Had to get air into those tires. puff puff

Pumping flat tyres
Pumping flat tyres

宝贝 decided to go for a neighbourhood walk with Daddy. So it’s just the 2 of us. Spent too much time getting ready (hunting for pump, pumping tyres, getting gear ready etc), didn’t have much time for the actual ride. Or we would be late for the next item on the timetable.

We are ready for the ride! Finally!
We are ready for the ride! Finally!

As usual, the ride just had to pass through the neighbourhood playgrounds. Highlights of ride – playgrounds.

Riding along the PCN
Riding along the PCN
The proper way to cross a traffic junction - Stop and check for traffic!
The proper way to cross a traffic junction – Stop and check for traffic!
Compulsory stop - playground!
Compulsory stop – playground!

Watching Monkey Ming wriggle up and down the poles…

I spy, with my little eye, a monkey on the pole!
I spy, with my little eye, a monkey on the pole!
A long way from ground...
A long way from ground…

Ok! It’s time to scram! Other kids are coming to the playground!!

Our extremely short ride...
Our extremely short ride…

#hbl #xiaoxiaobaobei #cycling #playground

HBL can be Lots of Fun!

HBL can be Lots of Fun!

The kiddos are starting think that HBL is lots of fun! Morning exercise this morning was to play catching (me included) at the playground for 1 hour!! Tired die me!!! 😵

We owned the playground!! No one else was there! The rest of the kiddos were still in school.

The exercise area, on the other hand, was pretty crowded!! Virus 🦠 alert!!! 📣📣📣

Our very own playground!
Our very own playground!
Crowded exercise area!! Virus alert!!
Crowded exercise area!! Virus alert!!

Meanwhile… HBL can be lots of fun! Keep chill everyone!!

#hbl #covid_19

Coping with HBL – Timetables and Schedules

Coping with HBL – Timetables and Schedules

HBL here we come!! 💪🏼 The kiddos used their last HBL schedules as a reference and did up their new timetables for this round. It’s much easier this time as they’ve done it before.

Xiaoxiaobaobei's Timetable
Xiaoxiaobaobei’s Timetable
Baobei's Timetable
Baobei’s Timetable
Baobeis with their Timetables
Baobeis with their Timetables

Time management is a life skill. Kind of liking this home schooling thingy as I can add on more extra stuff. 😈😈

We’ve done our 1h swimming this morning. Slightly behind schedule but we will catch up! I noticed that the kiddos added a lot of buffer in the planning. There are lots of food breaks. 🤔 And SOMEONE certainly doesn’t take 30 mins for piano practice. More like 5 mins. 😓

Looking very serious with HBL
Looking very serious with HBL
Timetable right in his face
Timetable right in his face
We are on ZaoBao!!
We are on ZaoBao!!

Zaobao (早报) picked up on the news and we are on the news!! ok ok.. cheap thrill….

#hbl #covid_19 #zaobao #timetable #baobeis

First MRT trip

First MRT trip

2 bedraggled rats caught in the rain. 🤣🤣 They took these pictures with the GPS watch.

Today marks the first day that 8 yo 小小宝贝 is taking the mrt on his own, under the supervision of his sister. The lucky boy has his sister to show him the ropes until she goes to secondary school next year. This is to prepare him to take mrt home alone in Term 4 when (or if!!) his CCA starts. He’s luckier than his sister who was thrown into the deep end of the pool when she was in P2. He’s much older than her at that time as he’s born in Jan and she was born in Sep.

4 years ago, I gave 宝贝 the choice of forgoing CCA or going for CCA but coming home on her own on the mrt. She chose the latter.

I took time off (I was still working at that time) to bring her home on mrt twice, with her leading the way. The night before she was to go home alone, she cried, begging me to pick her up from school after CCA. I refused. #evilmomalert

The next day, I hid myself behind the bushes at the mrt station entrance. She called me with her GPS watch at the school exit and asked me if I were picking her up. I told her nope and I would be waiting for her at home and she needed to be brave and watch out for bad people and traffic when she crossed the road.

Resigned to her fate, she made her way to the mrt. I saw her approaching the mrt from behind the bushes. The little thing was looking all around her all the time. Probably checking for bad people 😅 I had to stop myself from revealing my hiding place to hug her as she looked so vulnerable.

She went down the escalator and I saw her scrutinising the map to confirm her stops. She boarded the train and a kind soul gave up her seat to her because she looked so little with her humongous bag.

I managed to trail her to interchange and then I lost her when she alighted with a big crowd of commuters. She was too short.

I panicked a little and started searching the station for her. I checked her GPS location and found it moving away from the station, so I boarded the train to the final station. Meanwhile I was frantically calling her on the phone. The sigina didn’t pick up the call.

I searched the final station platform again. This time I was really at my wit’s end. I called home and my Mom said she wasn’t home yet. I didn’t dare to tell her that I had lose my young daughter. I was imagining that some evil guy had kidnapped her.

I ran all the way home like an Olympic runner, and there she was. Safe and sound. My Mom told me that she appeared at the door after she hung up the phone.

That took 5 years off my life… And thus marked the beginning of her maiden solo mrt journey home from school at 8 years 1 month old and my close heart attack.